You have decided that you want to do a little remodeling in your home. Maybe you want a new kitchen, or a new bath? You don’t like that wall between those two rooms and you would rather have one big room? No problem. Take it down. Or maybe you just want to make your home bigger.
Whatever you decide that you want done, unless you are ready and able to do it all yourself, you will need to hire a contractor. So make your decisions as to exactly what work you need done and search for a contractor to perform the work.
In many parts of the country, there is so much work available that there are not enough contractors to get all of the jobs done. If that is the situation that you face, you may just need to hire whoever says they can, and will, do the job. But most of the time, you will have a choice of contractors. And you will probably have two or three contractors bid on the job. If so, make sure that they are all working off of the same set of plans. This way they are all bidding the same way for the same work and materials.
In my experience you will quite possibly get a wide range of prices in your quotes. Some contractors, after looking at the job, decide that they really do not want that job. And they will bid high, sometimes very high. But even though they do not want the job, their bid is so high that if you accept their bid, they cannot afford to do the job.
On the other end of the spectrum there are contractors that bid low. Sometimes very low. They may be making a mistake in the bid, or they may be desperate for work. Or they may possibly be looking to scam you and they never have any intention of completing the job. Contractors like this are out there!
If they low bid is substantially lower than other bids, something is wrong. Rmember – you get what you pay for.
So beware. Check out the contractor before you hire them. Verify that they are licensed and insured. Check references – carefully. Compare the bids, making sure all are bidding the same work and materials. Think about setting a schedule that ties payments to completions of certain tasks and adhering to a schedule.
This is your home. Be careful who you entrust to work on it.
Questions? Call me, Art Reiman – Realtor at 732-598-7700
