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 Homeowner Secrets to Hiring a Residential Remodeling Contractor
Everything You Need To Know When Contracting To Have Your Home Remodeled
 
June 18, 2009Everyone wants to get a good deal on a home remodeling project, but how do you reallyknow the price you are getting will provide you with the results you desire?The residential remodeling industry is as fragmented as the used car market and just astreacherous. As a homeowner you do not want to pay too much, and you want to get themost for your remodeling dollar.This short paper will help you, the homeowner understand how to negotiate with yourremodeling contractor, get reasonable terms, have your project completed on time and forthe price quoted.The first thing you need to understand upfront is, you can not under any circumstancesget a $100,000 remodeling job done for $50,000. This is never possible; I do not care howdepressed the economy is. Sure you can get a quote for this amount, but unless youunderstand what is in the contract, you will not see the hidden dangers and you will paythe $100,000 if not more.Many homeowners succumb to what I call the Wal-Mart pricing strategy. Theymistakenly think "I will get several bids, pit each contractor against the other and fromthis process I will get the best product for the least cost". This works well for commodities,but seldom if ever does it work for services. While it is true you are getting a product, youare also getting a service. The product is the smallest piece of this equation. You can checkout prices on the internet. The service to install, engineer, project management, and toprovide an on time project it the biggest part of what you will be paying for and the mostimportant! The dry wall, appliances, carpet and paint are just not that big of an influenceon the overall job. Once you have decided what price range you are going to fall in, therest is execution. The service provided is what makes the difference in a satisfied customer(you) or a very distraught customer (you again).Many of you have heard the stories of the contractor who had the great personality, saidall of the right things, and gave the best price for the project. Only after he had thehomeowner under contract and the down payment in hand did the homeowner find outthe contractor could not deliver, or did not have any intention of delivering theremodeling job at the contracted price. He doesn't show up for weeks at a time. He hasyour down payment and you have nothing, not even the first nail. A small job turns outbeing a major pain in the rear and instead of lasting a couple of weeks, it goes on formonths and the cost escalates. This low cost job has just taken years off of your life!
 
Well here are the secrets to hiring the best remodeling contractor for your project-1.
 
Ask for and check references, a least three.Be sure to call them! Ask the hard questions, but do not be unreasonable.2.
 
Check with your Better Business Bureau3.
 
Check with your Secretary of StateYou need to check if they have a current license.4.
 
Do not try to drive down prices by telling the contractor you have other bids lowerthat his.Let's face it; they have to make a profit to stay in business. If you have multiplebids, provide all of the bids to all of the contractors that are bidding. Be sure tomake copies and remove the contractor's names and pricing. You just want to makesure everyone is bidding apples to apples. It's what's being bid not the price. Pricingwill take care of itself.5.
 
Stay within the scope of the work.Asking for freebies after the job has started is a sure way to have any legitimatechanges inflated to cover these freebies – nothing is free.6.
 
Agree to progress payments for having timelines and milestones met.This helps the legitimate contractor manage cash flow, and it weeds out theunscrupulous contractor. You only pay for work completed and on time. Bereasonable. I have seen homeowner take a trip out of town after the project hasstarted, denying access to the residence for the contractor and then demandingdiscounts due to the project not being completing on time. Yes, contractors to haveto deal with unscrupulous homeowners too.7.
 
Most of the time your down payment should never exceed 10% of the cost of theproject.A $50,000 project would equal a $5,000 down payment. This may change if the jobis very big ($200,000 or more). The contractor may want to run a credit check on
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