Archive for the ‘Helpful Tips’ Category

Do you have a good friend whom you don’t see very often, yet every time you get to talk, it’s as if you’ve never been apart? That intangible connection and natural flow of communication between two individuals is key to a long-lasting friendship, but you might not have realized just how important chemistry can be when it comes to selecting a contractor for your renovation project.

After all, you’ll be seeing your contractor on an almost daily basis, and he will be your voice in communicating your vision to all of the individuals who will work on your project. So ensuring that you and he are able to communicate well and comfortably from your very first meeting is essential.

Yet selecting a contractor goes far beyond picking someone with a compatible personality. Of course, there are the basics. The National Association of the Remodeling Industry recommends a number of areas you should consider: First, employ a contractor with an established area business specializing in your type of project. Check their references to ensure that past clients are satisfied with their service. Call the Better Business Bureau to make sure there isn’t an adverse file on record for the company. Ask to see a copy of the contractor’s certification of insurance or for the name of his insurance agency to verify critical coverage, such as worker’s compensation, property damage and personal liability insurance. Next, check your state licensing board to ensure that the contractor has the proper license. In North Carolina, a licensed residential General Contractor sits for a very extensive and intensive exam. The state also offers three types of licenses: A Limited License allows a contractor to work on projects of up to $500,000; an Intermediate License allows them to tackle projects of up to $1 million; and an Unlimited License – which Palmer Custom Builders possesses – is not restricted to any dollar value. The distinction is also important because they each have different minimum working capital requirements – $17,000 for Limited, $75,000 for Intermediate and $150,000 for Unlimited. A higher license ensures a greater depth of financial resources and may also be an indicator of diversity of skills and experience.

Experience is critical. Being a professional contractor entails far more than hanging a sign on a truck, it requires a great deal of education (and continuing education) combined with varied hands-on experience. There’s simply no substitute for having worked in the field for a number of years and having dealt with the challenges that are certain to “pop up.” Your contractor’s experience will allow him to implement creative solutions and will give you a comfort level that he has successfully “been there and done that” in the past.

Beyond that, it’s essential that the contractor you select runs a solid, stable business. The financial side is obvious – if it’s not a stable company, it might not be around to complete your project and it definitely won’t be there in a few years to stand behind its work. What you may not realize is that much of the critical planning, ordering and scheduling work in a project goes on back at the office and is dependent on the contractor’s ability to organize and run things smoothly from a business perspective. A professional approach is essential to handling the strategic coordination involved in ordering quality materials and scheduling the right trade professionals to ensure a timely result.

A good dose of common sense is equally important. For example, once on a time-critical project, we decided to postpone work for a day because of a predicted torrential downpour. While we could have done interior work that day, we knew that all the trades people walking in and out would have created a monumental mess that would have stressed the homeowner and which we would have lost even more hours cleaning up. Therefore, a short delay actually saved time and stress. Because the homeowner trusted our judgment, she didn’t agonize over the short delay, and we ultimately finished on time.

In the end, once you establish the credibility of the contractor, it’s simply a matter of finding that perfect fit. “I was referred to Palmer Custom Builders initially by our Realtor,” relates Kimber Morgan, who along with her husband Trey hired the firm to complete an extensive kitchen and master bath renovation and create an addition. “We did some further investigation, looking at their website and other sources of information. Ultimately, we thought they were very thorough and brought a lot of ideas to the table. They were a very professional firm and brought a lot of competence. We immediately felt like these people knew what they were doing,” she says. The results of that ideal fit will then speak for themselves.

It’s every homeowner’s worst nightmare. Your dream kitchen renovation has begun. Your out-dated cabinets and appliances have been removed, and the rock-bottom deal you got from your contractor has let you upgrade the new ones even more than you’d hoped. The discolored tile has been ripped out, plumbing pipes and electrical wiring are disconnected, and the exterior wall has been removed to make way for the expansion. You live with the mess through a long holiday weekend, looking forward to beginning reconstruction. Your contractor doesn’t show up on Tuesday, but you’re not alarmed, because you assume the rain delayed him. You are mildly panicked by Thursday, when your calls and emails have gone unreturned, but your heart sinks on Friday, when instead of his voice mail, you hear “the number you have dialed has been disconnected.”

A contractor going out of business in the middle of your project is the number one fear of homeowners. Renovation projects can be disruptive under even the best of circumstances, yet what gets homeowners through is picturing the end result. When a contractor folds mid-project, that end result is delayed exponentially. You have to find another contractor willing to jump into the chaos left behind. Your new contractor may be left with more questions than answers – not knowing what was done when, by who, and how well, which causes further delays and costs as he tries to discover where and when he can even begin. And that’s if you can find a contractor willing to take on the job in the midst of likely legal proceedings against the previous company. All the while, your family will be living amid the debris of a job left undone.

One way to avoid all this is to heed the warning signs and do your research on the front end. Check to make sure your contractor brings a diversity of skills and experience to your project, which makes them more capable of handling any unexpected challenges. Verify that they are a member of a recognized trade association such as NARI and that they are accredited with the BBB. Ask how long they have been in business.  Make certain they are currently licensed with the state, and see what level of license they hold. There are three types of licenses in North Carolina: A Limited License allows them to work on projects of up to $500,000; an Intermediate License allows them to tackle projects of up to $1 million; and an Unlimited License – which Palmer Custom Builders possesses – is not restricted to any dollar value. This is important, because they each have different minimum working capital requirements – $17,000 for Limited, $75,000 for Intermediate and $150,000 for Unlimited. A higher license ensures a greater depth of financial resources and may also be an indicator of diversity of skills and experience.

Undoubtedly, the largest red flag of all is price. If one company’s bid is radically discounted – defined by prices slashed 20 percent or more – than comparable companies, the odds are you’ll be getting far more than you bargained for. As Wendy A. Jordan, Contributing Editor of Professional Remodeler magazine noted in an October, 2009 article: “Radical discounting is a topic that stirs strong emotions among established remodelers. I contacted several around the country, and they said it is business suicide for all but extremely large companies, and eventually, [for] those giants, too.”  Why? As she explains, “You’ve fried your profit and probably a good share of your overhead coverage.”

So what, you may think as a homeowner. I don’t care if company X is around forever – I just want my project done at a great price.

As Jordan explains, that price will be higher than you think: “[the contractor] will have to cut corners to save money – perhaps reducing the numbers of workers on the job, providing less frequent production oversight, scheduling fewer dumpster pickups, doing less painstaking site protection, and so on. It raises the risk that you will make more errors, fall behind, disappoint your clients and sow the seeds of negative PR.” Most importantly, it bleeds businesses dry. Her numbers show discounting 20 percent over an extended period leads to a net loss of 3.7 percent – which means the contractor won’t be there when you need them to fix their questionable work.

As you can see, the price you’ll likely pay for using a radical discounter is simply too high – cut corners, substandard materials, poor workmanship, and perhaps, the ultimate cost of a project left undone.