Remodeling your home is often full of challenges, and stress, for the homeowner. Although the end result may be amazing, managing a budget, timeline, scope of work and necessary permit filing can be overwhelming and confusing. Very often homeowners choose to do some of the work themselves and contract out the more skilled tasks to a contractor. We recently spoke with the experts at Re-Done Green Construction to ask them questions about working with a remodeling contractor.
What are the top 5 things to know before hiring a Contractor?
First and foremost, protect yourself and make sure the contractor and any sub-contractors are registered, licensed, bonded and insured (as required by your state). You certainly don’t want someone working on your home who does not have the proper coverage. You want a contractor that follows the law. If someone gets hurt and the contractor doesn’t have the right coverage, you could lose your home in a legal battle. Additionally, ask them the following:
- How long have they been in the business?
- Does the Contractor or it’s employees have formal training or education in construction?
- Make sure have a contract. You want to know what is being done for the price you have agreed to.
- What is the payment schedule and process?
Which projects are good to DIY and which projects are are definitely not recommended to DIY?
Good projects for do-it-yourselfers are painting walls and installing laminate flooring. You still need to make sure you have the right tools. A project not good for DIY is tiling; leave tiling to the pros. You don’t want to have issues of tiles coming loose, breaking or water problems in the future.
How should a homeowner prepare their home before a hiring a contractor?
Make sure the space is clean and the contractor has access to the work area and to the electrical panel. You never know when you might find a wire in the wall or trip a break while work is happening.
When is your busiest time of year? When is the best time of year for homeowners to call and schedule an appointment?
Spring and Summer tend to be the busiest time of the year. Call early in the week to schedule for the following week. Larger projects need lots of planning and will like take more than just an hour to go over the details. Make sure you schedule enough time to cover all the details.
Are there any new or cool products on the market that you’d recommend to homeowners to help upgrade the home?
If you are going to update your bathroom, check out WEDI products and super insulation.
Thank you Re-Done Green Construction!
Top image credit: Re-Done Green Construction
