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Pardon Our Dust
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The One Thing You Should Do
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Are you so worried about having a bad remodeling experience that you have a stomachache? Then this is for you.
Have put off a remodel for years because of the bad, bad stories you've heard about getting ripped off by contractors? Then this is for you.
After studying remodeling for nearly 20 years, I see exactly what can go wrong with remodels. And I have distilled my wisdom down to one main thing you need to do. And it is this:
Select your team very carefully!
Your team consists of:
You
Architect or designer
Contractor
Budget
Yes, your budget is a team player, molding and determining what you can and cannot achieve.
You need to see your project as a team effort, and choose people who are team players.
The most critical team player will likely be the contractor, so you must research this player very carefully. A bad choice here can give you months and years of grief — in time, trouble and money.
If you will do these things toward choosing your contractor, you will be far ahead of the game in terms of avoiding a bad experience:
1. Find and hire the most respected licensed contractor in your area.
2. Don't let saving money on a cut-rate contractor drive your remodel unless you are willing to risk disaster. Hiring a "cheap" remodeling contractor is like any other gamble; it pays off just enough times to make you think you will get lucky. But the odds are against you.
3. Ask people you know to recommend the best remodeling contractor they have ever worked with or heard about in the area.
4. If the people you ask are in the middle of a remodel, or just about to start one, disregard their opinion until the job is done.
5. When you do get a few names, research them on the Internet. See what awards they have won, what peer-review groups they are in, and what certifications their people have earned.
6. Look for companies that are members of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry or the Remodelors Council of the National Association of Home Builders.
7. Look for companies that are part of the Remodelers Advantage peer-review group, or the Business Networks peer-review group. In my experience, the members of these groups are top-notch remodeling companies with excellent systems in place to prevent confusion and chaos on your project.
8. See if any of the companies you are considering have been chosen as a Big 50 company by Remodeling magazine. The editors of this magazine are excellent judges of quality, and only put quality companies on this list.
9. When you narrow your choices down to two or three contractors, ask for references, then GO VISIT the references. Ask questions like: What is best thing about this contractor? What is the worst thing? What would you do different next time?
10. If you like what you hear from references, make an appointment to visit the contractor's office. You can see there, in plain view, the company culture. Is everyone in a good mood? Are they professional looking? Is the office clean and well-organized? These are telling indications of how the business is run.
11. And finally, when you do find the perfect remodeling company, do not expect them to "bid" on a project. Competitive bidding is ridiculous for remodeling companies to do, to spend 20 to 40 hours of company time for no charge is not what a self-respecting company should be doing. And you do not have the ability to tell if you are getting "apples for apples" bids. Often the lowest bidder will add on the extras that were left out of the bid later on.
If you want to get bids in order to see how much the project will cost, you are not working with a team that includes a contractor. When the designer and contractor of your choosing work hand-in-hand from the very first moment the project is conceived, there will be no surprises. The designer comes up the ideas, and the contractor knows approximately how much that will cost, so that particular element can be left in the project, or taken out, in the design stage.
In this teamwork arrangement, you sign agreements for each stage of the project, from design to construction. The final tally is called a "negotiated bid," where the contractor of your choosing tells you exactly how much the project you have worked together to design, within your predetermined budget, will cost. If you object to the company's overhead, profit and supervision costs, then you really don't understand how much it costs to run a good company, how much it costs to attract and retain top-notch employees, to train them and send them to industry events to learn how to install new products and materials in an ever-evolving industry. If you object to paying for a top-notch company, you are back at square one, looking for a cut-rate company, and gambling on disaster.
So if anyone says you must get three bids, I say you are on the wrong track. You should start with a team of your chosen professionals, and then proceed together toward a successful project.