Home and Living

While there are a lot of home improvement projects that you can do yourself, there are still some that you will need a contractor for. A contractor is an individual who has the training and expertise to do a specific job. Sometimes the contractor is a plumber or an electrician or even a general contractor who can do a big job for which subcontractors must be hired. Either way a contractor is an important person.

Once you have chosen a project to do you should get a couple of estimates. In order to do this you will need to have your project clearly defined and spelled out first. You should get at least three estimates and you do not want to be taken in by a very low bid. Low bids may indicate that substandard material will be used, inexperienced workers hired or that the price will go up as the project proceeds. Once you have chosen a contractor you should write up the contract. Make sure that you include all of the project’s demands, materials, when the project will begin and end, a warranty, a clause that limits work to the home improvement contract and states that any additional work requires a change order and the manner in which disputes will be mediated. Of course, you will also need to work out a payment schedule. You do not want to make a large pre-payment. Your payment should be around 10% until certain benchmarks are met and you should not make a final payment until you are sure that you are satisfied with all of the work that has been done.

Make sure that you spell everything out in your contract. Do not overlook the little things such as having the contractor provide liability insurance and worker’s compensation. You do not ever want to leave anything to chance. Since most contractors have several projects going at the same time verbal agreements can easily be forgotten about. This also leaves room for misunderstanding and confusion.

You should also be sure that any of your questions are answered before you sign the home improvement contract. This way you can be sure that everyone understands what is expected of him or her. Since home improvements can be stressful, you should allow the home improvement contract to alleviate some of that stress.