Home Improvement Contractor

This page is one of the most important pages on the web site. This page deals specifically with how to choose a home improvement contractor. Choosing the right building contractor means the difference between a wonderful experience that brings happiness and functionality to your life, versus a miserable interaction. You want a permanent reminder of a job well done.

Some things many people do not think of when they engage in a home improvement project and use a contractor is: 1.You just invited a new house guest to stomp through your house in coveralls and muddy feet for the next several months. You better make sure this is someone you trust and someone who is at least pleasant to get along with. 2. Your home is going to be torn apart, in some degree, while the project is under way. Are you going to be able to be functional as a family or individual during this time? Heaven forbid you are sneaking showers in the torn up bathroom as the contractor is out for lunch …then arrives back early. The point being, think through the implications of who and how you are engaging before jumping in from the deep end.

The truth is there are a lot of really poor home improvement contractors out there. Be careful and go slowly. In attempt to give you a bit of meat to chew on here, I have composed a list of my top 10 rules when selecting a home improvement building contractor to build a new home, remodel an existing home, or just do a fix up project.

1.- Take a look at their work. Every contractor known to man will tell you what good work they do. Don’t trust their word. Look at the last two or three projects that they have done and judge for yourself.

2.- Talk to others that have worked with them. How are they to work with? Do they do what they say? Did they follow through? Were they rude? How fair where they? Did they complete on time? Did they use good materials? How pleased are you 5 years after the project? All questions you should ask from someone who was not the 3 standard referrals that the contractor gave you. Dig a bit and find someone who was not on their referral card that they pass out. After all, if you are talking to their Uncle or Aunt you are not going to get a true picture.

3- Check their financial status. Find out from the bank or their suppliers if they are financially stable. There is no worse nightmare than having the source of a contractors supply come calling to your house because the contractor is not paying his bills. Furthermore, you are going to get poor work if someone is so jammed up financially they are desperate and rushing to get a job done so they can pay off a creditor.

4.- Find out what other jobs they will be working on. You don’t want your contractor spread so thin that they are giving you such a small piece of their energy that they don’t finish the job on time, or they do poor quality. Realize that most contractors will have 2 or 3 jobs at a time. This is ok, but if they are bouncing between 4 or 5 projects, you will lose their focus, productivity, and the quality will go down. You might also run into excessive delays.

5.- What relationships do they have with supply sources? Find out if you are getting charged a skim on the items and supplies being used from the contractor. Often contractors earn good money by charging you retail and getting a discount price from the supply source. The danger here is, at times they will even push you into items you do not want because they get a higher markup. This is a way to save money and make sure you know what their compensation is before hand. Ideally, you can take advantage of their discounts as part of your contract with them.

6.- Sign a contract. Enough said. This will hold them and you to the agreed terms.

7.- Have milestones and penalties if they miss the milestones. This motivates to stay on task. I can say that the building industry has more problems missing deadlines than about any industry I have ever seen. I can’t count the number of times a building contractor has told me he would do something and then not even shown up. Milestones with expectations and penalties are a great way to control this.

8.- Take them donuts. Thanks and appreciation when a construction contractor is doing a good job goes a long way.

9.- Make up your mind before hand. This goes along with my first page discussion when I talked about a plan. The biggest frustration of a home improvement contractor is someone changing their mind every 5 minutes. This is another good reason for using a software package that models before you start building.

10.- Have fun and relax. It can be a stressful process, but it also can be fun. Develop a relationship with your contractor and enjoy the ride.