Introduction
If you're thinking of Kitchen Remodeling Contractor Hendersonville your kitchen or bathroom, you may have heard horror stories from friends who've worked with contractors. They tell tales of shoddy workmanship and contractors who take advantage of them financially. While those stories are true, they don't represent the majority of contractors out there—in fact, most won't try to take advantage of their clients at all. But it's still important to keep these things in mind when hiring someone for a home improvement project:
Your expectations are too high.
The first thing to consider Home Remodeling Hendersonville TN is your expectations. This is a big one because it's so often overlooked by homeowners, who want their contractor to be able to do everything they want at once and on schedule. It's important that you're realistic about what you can afford and how much work you can do yourself.
Your house remodeling contractor won't tell you this: Your expectations are too high! When it comes down to it, there are only so many hours in the day--and while they'll try their best (and probably succeed), sometimes things just don't go according to plan when working on projects as large as these ones tend to be.
I'm not going to help you get the best deal on everything.
-
Don't expect your contractor to negotiate the price of materials. I'm not going to get on the phone with the lumberyard and haggle over every piece of wood that goes into your project, or try to get them to give me a better deal on their products. If you want me to do that for you, then hire a buyer's broker (or just do it yourself).
-
Don't expect your contractor to negotiate the price of labor. When a guy comes over from Mexico or Central America and works hard for eight hours at $8 per hour (that's California minimum wage), he deserves his paycheck--even if there are plenty of other guys who would happily take his job at half that cost or less!
-
Don't expect your contractor's employees' unions will agree with everything he says about wages being too high and benefits being too generous either! I know because my father was an electrician who belonged both unions before retiring after 30 years without ever getting paid overtime pay once during those three decades despite working 60+ hour weeks regularly throughout most summers since we moved westwardly across America when I was still young enought o remember moving house several times every year until finally settling down permanently in San Diego County where our family now resides permanently since 1994 when my parents decided "enough was enough" after seeing how much money could be made selling houses instead..."
There are some things you're going to have to do yourself.
You can't expect your contractor to do everything for you. While they will be able to help with some things, there are others that require your attention and effort--and those are the ones we're talking about today. Here are some examples:
-
Painting -- While they might be able to get someone in to paint the walls or trim, if you want something custom-colored or painted with a textured finish (like eggshell), then it's probably best if you take care of this yourself.
-
Installation -- The same goes for any other installations in the house (i.e., flooring, cabinets). You may have hired professionals who know how install these items correctly and efficiently; however, if there's something specific about what needs installing (i.e., cutouts around electrical outlets or pipes), then again...you might want do this part yourself as well!
Your contractor is probably not licensed.
If your contractor is not licensed, it means they haven't passed a background check and don't have insurance. That's bad news for you!
A contractor license also shows that the person has a good reputation in the community and has completed all of their training requirements.
We're going to run into problems that we can't foresee right now.
You're going to run into problems that you can't foresee right now. Even if you have a good contractor, and even if they're honest with you, there will be things that come up during the process of your house remodel that will be unexpected. The good news is that these problems don't have to derail everything or cost an arm and a leg (or both).
-
You may discover mold in places where it wasn't expected or visible before. This could happen if there was moisture damage from past leaks in pipes or roofs, or if there were previous issues with water leaking into walls from outside sources like rainwater runoff (which could also cause structural damage).
-
Your contractor might need to make some last minute changes due to unforeseen circumstances--for example, if they find out after demolition begins that one wall needs reinforcement before being torn down because another wall is too close by so would collapse otherwise; this would require buying more lumber than originally budgeted for so as not only maintain budget but also keep on schedule!