Question:
Shop, shop, shop, and shop some more ’til you find someone you can just be around, much less work for you. Your contractor and his/her subs are going to be an integral part of your life, especially if you’re going to live in there while they’re doing the work. The usual lisenced, bonded & insured stuff applies. Funny, in MD, you have to be so if you’re doing improvements, but not so if you’re a home builder! The biggest thing that sticks out for me was the last 10% of the work took 90% of the effort of me chasing ours around to finish. New job = more profits. If you can find a way to work it out on draws – make sure you hold that last one up ’til you’re completely satisfied, or they might never finish…. Find someone who is flexible and helpful, and you be that way too. Our guy was honest enough to work with us on all kinds of considerations and layouts. I feel better about what we got than what we wanted. After all these folks are in business to sell you something, service. I feel like I got excellent service as a result. HTH… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > Hi, > We are getting ready to put a fairly large addition on our 10-year old home. > I would appreciate any input on "lessons-learned" when choosing a general > contractor. All input welcome! > Thanks, > Steve
Response:
… >Just my hard lessons learned.
Great suggestions. I’d add one more – hold the contractor’s first born as collateral! <g> Tom Need info on COTTAGES, CABINS and RECREATIONAL living? Check out "Cottage Living!" On-Line book store! http://www.cottageliving.com
Response:
It’s now 25 years since we built our house, but I can relate my experiences. I had an architect who supervised the job and the contractor was paid on a "voucher" system. What this meant was that any checks drawn on the construction account had to be signed by both the architect and the contractor before they were honored by the bank. The architect would only sign if either of the two conditions existed: the material was on the site, or the work was completed. Because of the rapid inflation in the mid 70s, the contractor saw his profit disappearing with his fixed price bid, and I got caught when the contractor went belly-up. However, the money in the construction account was sufficient for me to act as the general and finish up the house. Later, when I had a swimming pool put in, I consulted with an attorney at work and found out that the normal "progress payment" schedule was greatly in favor of the contractor. In other words, the contractor got payments which were well ahead of the work done. This tended to make the contractor more independent and willing to let your job slip. I negotiated a more realistic payment schedule, which paid for work done, not for work to be done. After a dispute over some work done where the contractor claimed that it was on a "time and materials" basis, but couldn’t support that claim in his contract, the contractor said something to the effect, "If that’s the way you feel, I’m not going to finish the job!" After I pointed out to him the payment schedule, and said that I still had plenty of money to finish the job without him, he quickly agreed to the terms in the contract. Another thing I learned was that you demand "lien releases" from the sub-contractors before paying for any further work. In California, if the subs aren’t paid, they can file liens against the property. In most cases, the owner must be given a "pre-lien notice" which puts you on alert that your general isn’t paying his bills. Unfortunately, the union trust and benefits funds are exempt from this requirement, and I got stuck with a lien at the end of construction. It wasn’t a big amount, and we settled after a couple of go-arounds. Dick Lucas – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >Hi, >We are getting ready to put a fairly large addition on our 10-year old home. >I would appreciate any input on "lessons-learned" when choosing a general >contractor. All input welcome! >Thanks, >Steve
Response:
Hi, We are getting ready to put a fairly large addition on our 10-year old home. I would appreciate any input on "lessons-learned" when choosing a general contractor. All input welcome! Thanks, Steve
Response:
Make sure the references are actually satisfied clients. We hired a general for a home addition ten years ago and only found out halfway through the project, when things were going disasterously wrong, that his "references" were actually his mother-in-law and his brother. Get everything in writing. Don’t trust a hand-written contract with nebulous specifications. Whereas I would love to do business on a handshake, there is simply too much money at stake to take chances. We were nickel-and-dimed to death because of a vaguely written contract. Put in delay penalties and early-completion bonuses. Our work dragged on two months past the scheduled completion date because the contractor kept pulling his guys off to do more "profitable" work. Check invoices and make sure you’re actually getting the materials you are paying for (i.e. getting 2 x 3 studs but being billed for 2 x 4s). Don’t do business with someone whose credit with suppliers is so bad that he needs to have all the money up front to buy materials. Just my hard lessons learned. –Welmoed > Hi, > We are getting ready to put a fairly large addition on our 10-year old home. > I would appreciate any input on "lessons-learned" when choosing a general > contractor. All input welcome! > Thanks, > Steve
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