Step 5 IN LOCATING THE RIGHT CONTRACTOR FOR YOUR PROJECT

In the previous steps, you have gathered all of the relevant information including plans and project specifications. It is now time to get this information to your short list of contractors you had identified in Step 1.

This next step is to call each candidate contractor and set up an appointment to visit with you again, at your home, and review the newly created plans and specs. The goal of this step is to use it as a second interview with each of the candidate contractors and get everyone on the same page. Pay special attention to things like timeliness, ability to listen, and overall understanding of your vision of the project.

This step should give you a good feel for your possible future interactions with these contractors. Do they make you feel comfortable? Are they able to communicate their understanding of the project? Are you confident in their abilities? Would you feel comfortable allowing them in your home to conduct work when you were not there? Are they able to answer your questions and concerns intelligently? Where they able to offer any design ideas that influenced the final version of your plan?

Provide each candidate contractor with the plans and specifications for your project. Ask them to provide you with a proposal according to your plans and specs. If you have items you want optional pricing on, instruct them that the base price should include the less expensive option. Then they should include an optional amount in you were to choose the upgrade. Ask for a date when you can expect them to come back to discuss their proposal.

During this second interview process, you will likely identify one or maybe two of the contractors that really stand out. Write down your thoughts and impressions of each candidate. Discuss these later with your spouse.

Stay tuned for the next post in this series on locating the right contractor for your project.

Step 4 IN FINDING THE RIGHT CONTRACTOR FOR YOUR PROJECT

If you are just joining us, please read the last few blog posts to get up to speed on our current topic.

To recap, you have now found someone to create your plans and you have a established budget range. Now it is time to create the "Job Specifications". These are the more specific details relating to finishes or materials to be used in your remodel. If you are vague or undecided on these details and ask contractors to give you estimates for your project anyway, the prices you get back can be all over the board. This is when the unscrupulous contractor will put the cheap stuff in his bid to land the project. Then once he has started and you realize the quality of products being installed are not up to your expectations... you will end up paying extra to get what you really want.

Be as specific about what you want as possible including, colors, styles, manufacturers, ect. You can gather ideas from many sources. Finding ideas online or clipping pictures from magazines is a great place to start as you research all of your options. Then you will want to see some of these products for yourself by visiting local showrooms. Spend plenty of time during this step to know all of the options available to you. For example, if you are planning to remodel your kitchen there are several places you will want to visit to see what is available. You will want to visit a cabinetry shop that has a show room. You will also want to visit the showroom of a flooring supplier, counter top supplier, plumbing supplier, and perhaps a lighting supplier.

When I meet with potential clients that don't already know what they want, I will have them visit the showrooms of my preferred subcontractors. This way the client can choose the specific items they would like me to include in my proposal. Then the details of our contract will be far more accurate.

This can be a fun and exciting step. Get out and see whats available. If you find a few things you can't decide on, have the prospective contractors give you price options for both ideas. Then once you see how each will affect your overall budget you can make your final decisions.

Your goal for Step 4 is to create a list of specific items and finishes you have chosen to use in your remodel. This list, together with the plans is the pertinent information contractors will need to provide you with accurate estimates.

Stay tuned for the next step to locating the right contractor for your project.

STEP 3 IN FINDING THE RIGHT CONTRACTOR FOR YOUR REMODELING PROJECT

If you are just joining us, please read the last few blog posts to get up to speed on our current topic.

So you have now found someone to create your plans. If you haven't done so already, it is time to get real about your budget. This is critical to the design process because you don't want to end up paying for plans which describe a project way beyond your budget.

You must decide what amount of money makes sense to invest in your home. Some projects will add more value to your home than others. For instance, updating you kitchen or bathroom will give you a better return on your investment as opposed to painting or re-carpeting. I will discuss this topic in greater detail in a future blog post.

In my experience, a large portion of prospective clients are surprised at the true costs of remodeling. Often their expectations of these costs are around half to two-thirds of the amount necessary to perform the work they wish to have done. This is why becoming educated about the process is so important.

You may have reservations about wanting to openly discuss your budget with your prospective remodeling contractor(s). However, having open and frank discussions about it can help to avoid sticker shock down the road. Rather than coming up with an exact amount, a better approach is to have a budget range. This is a low to high amount that you are comfortable with investing in your home. If a realistic budget range can be established early on, the design phase can be tailored to create a finished product that you will be happy with.

In my previous blog post (step #2), I recommended having an experienced design/build contractor create your plans. Again, the reason for this is because a contractor will have a better gauge for the budget range you are comfortable with. Designers and architects are not as familiar with actual labor and material costs. Therefore, it is very easy for plans to be over designed or include features that are far too expensive for your stated budget range.

A realistic budget range can be created by having frank discussions with all of the prospective contractors as they each visit with you about your desired project. Their experience on past projects similar to yours, can confirm whether you have a realistic budget range to work with.

Stay tuned for the next step in finding the right contractor for your project.

Step 2 IN LOCATING THE RIGHT CONTRACTOR FOR YOUR PROJECT

If you are just joining us, please read the last few blog posts to get up to speed on our current topic.

Now you've got your list of recommended contractors either by asking around or by doing some investigative work on your own. You should have 2 or 3 contractors that you feel understand your vision of the project. Now its time to get these contractors to your home to see your project in person. Your ultimate goal of this step is to get everyone on the same page so that the quotes you are given are for the same scope of work.

Quite often contractors go into a home and are asked to give a bid or estimate on work after only a brief discussion of the work to be done. Chances are, they don't understand the complete scope of work or have not been given the exact same information given to the other contractors. Unless the owner's ideas are put to paper, it is very likely that you will receive a broad range of estimates.

It is critical that each contractor you are requesting quotes from receive the same information. How will you do this? The best way is to have a complete set of engineered plans and specifications created for your job. When contractors are able to create their quotes from detailed plans and specs, you will be receiving more accurate estimates from the contractors. More accuracy means fewer surprises as the work progresses. Making your buying decision based on an estimate created without plans and specs is risky business.

Most of the time however, homeowners are looking for input from contractors for ideas on their project. If this is the case, you can meet with each of the contractors, and gather their ideas for the work to be done. Once the best ideas have been gathered and you know the direction you want to go with your design, it is time to create the plans.

Many remodeling contractors also provide design services. One or more of the contractors from your list may be able to help you with this step. If so, choose one of them write up a design agreement and negotiate the price to be paid for these design services. It should be made clear that the plans are to be a complete set of drawings, detailed enough for submittal to the local building department for permits.

A design/ build contractor is often the best choice when it comes to choosing who should draw your plans. Your other option is a home designer or architect. Contractors usually have more understanding of how a remodel job can, or should be built in order to keep a project within budget. When it comes to remodeling, a home designer or architect can provide good design ideas. But their plans can often contain mistakes or omissions that can't be identified until the work has begun. This can often result in additional expenses that could have been avoided by using the experience of a design/build contractor to create your plans.

Stay tuned for our next Step in locating the right contractor for your project.

STEP 1 IN LOCATING THE RIGHT CONTRACTOR FOR YOUR PROJECT

So you've made the decision to do some remodeling to your home. How do you find the right contractor for the job? Look in the phone book? Look on the Internet? Look in the classifieds?

While these resources can produce a large quantity of contractors for you to contact, how do you know if any of these contractors will do a good job for you? It is a roll of the dice. Just because a contractor has a nice looking add or website does not mean that they can perform well on the job.

Your best and safest means of locating a handful of quality contractors is to ask around. Ask your friends, ask your relatives, ask neighbors, and co-workers. Ask anyone that you know who has paid for remodeling services in the past. They will either have had a pleasant experience, or they will have had a terrible one. Either way, you will gain valuable information to help you make an educated decision on whom to contact for quotes. Obviously you should steer clear of contractors that don't receive raving reviews from their past clients. Without much effort at all, you can have a short list of contractors to invite to your home to discuss your job with.

So the best way to ensure that you find a good contractor to work with, is to start with a list of contractors recommended by others. If for some reason you are unable to gather any good recommendations , you will need to do some additional homework. Roll the dice and call several contractors that you find online or in the phone book. When calling, be prepared to give a brief description of the work you want done. Ask if it is the type of work their company does. Then ask for references. Ask specifically for 3-5 of the contractor's most recent clients. This way, you are getting a clear picture of how each contractor is performing at the present time. Once you have contacted the references and narrowed down your list to the best 2 or 3 candidates, you are ready for the next step.

Stay tuned for Step 2 in the process of finding the right contractor for your remodeling project.

BEWARE THE LOW PRICE

We all want a good deal. We feel a great sense of accomplishment arriving home from the store having just scored a great deal on some coveted product. It is natural then to want to feel the same sense of accomplishment when we hire someone to do work on our home.

It has been ingrained in our heads that you always get several bids for work. So you call several contractors and collect their estimates. You are given a wide range of prices ranging from really high to the "good deal" range. After very little deliberation you give in to your impulse to score another good deal. You once again enjoy the satisfaction that comes with your victory.

However, this feeling is about to come to an abrupt end... During the construction process you begin to realize you are not getting what you once anticipated, or the project is not being built as you thought it would. As you discuss your concerns with your builder (the low price contractor whom you hired), you hear him say things like, "my bid didn't include that", or "that will cost extra".

Reality sets in... you have fallen victim to a sneaky little trick that unscrupulous contractors will use to get their foot in your door. They tempt you with a deal that is truly too good to be true. They promise you that all of your specifications have been considered and are included in this great price. You are now beginning to see that you have been misled.

If you want to avoid this scenario, you must learn one of life's difficult lessons... "YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR". It can be said that in the construction industry this is an irrefutable fact.

There are ways to avoid becoming a victim to this scam and ultimately find a builder who can provide you with a quality job- at a fair price. But to do this you need to change your thinking.

Follow along in my upcoming blog posts as I outline how to find a great contractor for your job who will produce what you want and do it for a fair price.