Tips to ensure you get the right home improvement contractor.
By Mark Nash
It's hard to find good help and especially if your planning to market your home or you have just purchased one that needs some updating. Complaints about home improvement contractors rank high on consumer agency lists. Mark Nash author of 1001 Tips for Buying and Selling a Home offers do's and don't for home buyers and sellers when planning to hire an outside contractor to repair or renovate their home.
Do's
-Verify their insurance. Ask to see copies of liability insurance and amounts before signing a contract.
-Ask for references. Request a list of references from past and current clients. Call and discuss with them the pluses and minus' of the contractor. Take the time to visit homes where work was done, check for timeliness and attention to detail on work sites.
-Request information on suppliers and subcontractors. Contractors are only as good as their support system. Vendors and subcontractors can share insight into the business practices of your potential contractor.
-Check with local Better Business Bureaus and with local building and planning officials. Most likely you'll need building permits and certificates of occupancy from the local office that regulates renovation and building. These officials should be familiar with you contractor and their work.
-Get at least 3 estimates. You will be surprised at how different the costs can be for the same work. Have plans and specifications in writing to deliver to contractors who bid on work. A flat fee for a project is more cost effective than time and materials. Detail materials, paint colors by brand, appliance make and model and warranties.
-Draft a complete contract. Make sure it lays out who is doing what, when it should be done by and what happens if it is not done to your satisfaction. Include payment schedules and how changes to plans will affect costs and the contract. Options should be listed separate from the main contract.
-Address refusal to complete work. It's not likely that your contractor will refuse to complete work or abandon the project, but it pays to include a course of action if these situations arise in any contract.
-On occasion provide food treats and beverages. On hot and humid summer days or below freezing winter ones, make the effort to provide chilled bottled water, steaming coffee and a quick pick-me-up to contractors.
-Be appreciative verbally. After a rough or long day at your home, I have found it always pays to let contractors know that you appreciate their extra efforts. Staying late to complete the plumbing to get a toilet running or leaving the job site broom clean without asking is worth a hearty thank-you.
Dont's
-Ignore making scheduled payments on time. A sure bet to get slow follow-through from contractors. If the contractor is performing as stated in the contract, so should you.
-Forget patience. Delays by cabinet or door manufactures can be out of the contractors control. Don't be afraid to double-check though if they have been ordered to meet job lead times.
-Make the contractor guess what you want. Start a clip file before you have a contractor over to review job. Pick up some home magazines and tear out colors, finishes, appliances and overall looks for a room that you like. Develop a list of dislikes, anything helps to eliminate and communicate your thoughts.
-Be cheap. Good work costs sometimes comes at a higher price. And buyers know chintzy materials and craftsmanship. Don't nickel and dime your contractor, and pay for all change orders you request.
-Be unavailable for contractor questions. There are always a couple of items that sneak past the drawings and specifications or surprises that you run into in an older home. Make al your contact information to your contractor so if they need to reach you to make a decision that if you don't could hold the job up.
-Forget that we don't live in a perfect world. It's difficult to have strangers in our homes and even more so when the inconvenience of a remodeling job interrupts our personal refuge. Contractors like to complete work in a timely manner, but they don't control all the remodeling moons to align them perfectly on every project.
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