Choosing a Home Construction or Remodeling ContractorWritten by George Stevens
Choosing right Contractor is most important aspect of any home construction project. You must take your time and do your research to find a good qualified contractor if you want excellent quality at a fair price. When we built our new home we spent many hours finding best contractors for each aspect of building our new home. We developed a method that served us well and it is as follows:Determine exactly what you want done and write it down. This may sound a little basic at first blush, but it is so important. Remember what is not well defined is easily manipulated. If it is not in writing, it can be disputed. You do two things when you define your project in detail, and in writing. You find any missing aspects that you may have overlooked and you have good definition and expectations for your contractor. Get three (3) bids for each trade that you will hire. Never rely on one bid, and always meet contractor face to face at site where work is to be done. If you are uncomfortable with contractor when they are bidding job how is it going to be when two of you have to work out details of your project. Remember cheaper is not always better! Ask each contractor for references and make sure they are bonded and insured. Check their references and call BBB (Better Business Bureau) in your area to see if they have any outstanding complaints.
| | Building Your Own HomeWritten by George Stevens
Most people think building their own home involves vast knowledge of all aspects of home building process. The impression of most people is they don’t really know enough to build their own home. Let’s face it, most of us know a little about process. Some of us may know a lot about one aspect or other involved in building a home. You may know how to paint or do carpentry work or lay tile, but you probably don’t know everything about home building.What is so different about building a home than rest of major tasks that we take on in our everyday lives? Right now I am typing on my laptop over a wireless connection that is networked to Internet. Do I know how all this works? Nope, I just knew how to put it all together and eureka, I can do it! Well we all know it is not that simple sometimes with computers, but my point is you don’t need to know everything about something to do it. In this age of Internet with it’s endless sources of information and connection to other people that have knowledge you need, almost anything is possible. So why is building your own home any different? It isn’t really, let me tell you why. First a little background about building process. Most of us buy a home that is built by a builder, or general contractor. The General Contractors hire Sub-Contractors to do work, or essentially build homes. The Subs put up framing, roofing, siding, flooring etc… Normally General contractors employ building supervisors to watch over building process. They are managers that have day-to-day contact with subs. This process is not really complicated.
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