Home Improvement: Hiring a Contractor (Contractor's Perspective) |
- Hiring a Contractor (Contractor's Perspective)
- I tried climbing into my roof today and while on there started panicking and got back down
- Undermount Kitchen Sink Replaced
- Essential tools for first home buyer?
- Removing paint from stone fireplace?
- Need help with a medicine cabinet replacement, cant find a size.
- What's The Best Way To Protect Matte Black Faucets?
- Where to Buy QUALITY Pop Up Drain Kits That Don’t Leak?
- I WAVE-R placement question.
- What's the easiest way to replace this light with a recessed style light?
- Removal of glue for carpet
- Wanting to move a wall mount
- Who installs the transition strip between new tile and old carpet?
- Mudding new drywall in basement , need help on tips and tricks how to properly do this
- shower stall kit without panel caulking
- Quick and dirty way to fix outlet not fitting?
- DIY Wall Mural Painting
- How to go about sealing bottom of door?
- A mess of paint/finish questions on my rather train wreck projects
- Can/recessed light help
- Is there a neighbor etiquette for installing a fence?
- Help me figure out how to make this bed happen
- Is it a horrible idea long term to install something/drill into vinyl siding?
- Garage Door - Extension vs Torsion Springs?
| Hiring a Contractor (Contractor's Perspective) Posted: 22 Nov 2020 08:58 AM PST I'm not super active in this sub, but I saw the recent post about tips and tricks for hiring a contractor and thought I could offer some good insight from a contractor's perspective, especially for noobs. For context, I'm a residential painting contractor (existing homes). My company is family owned, we have 12 full time employees. We've been in business over 50 years and have a good reputation in our community. I guess you could call us a "premium" priced contractor, but we work for all types of people and accommodate all types of budgets. I'm going to respond to the previous points in order. Original thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeImprovement/comments/jymbik/hiring_a_contractor/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 "Call a minimum of 3 contractors to get bids from." This is pretty decent general advice. Obviously vetting multiple options is very important, but strictly shopping this way can be a misnomer. What I would say is this -- if you find a contractor that has been recommended by reputable sources, is within your budget and you are confident in -- hire them. As a contractor, I don't want to price-check for someone who already has an idea of who they would like to use before I have a chance to bid. It wastes my time. Most of our work is from word of mouth (or text) referrals, and we try very hard to go the extra mile for new prospective clients when they have been recommended by an existing customer. Please be reasonable and don't waste our time if you can avoid it. What to look for? Things we do to earn your work right away: We respond to estimate requests within 24 hours, or the following Monday if over the weekend. We call you back to set up a time to visit. We will feel the project out on the phone to make sure we are a good fit for you. We will then schedule a firm time for an estimate meeting. We'll show up when we say we will, or call you well in advance if we have a conflict (happens rarely). We return estimates promptly. One or two days for small jobs, or by the following Monday if we need the weekend to get the quote done. We are looking for people that want us to work for them. We screen calls immediately to make sure our schedule (6-8 weeks minimum) is acceptable to you. We always ask where you were referred from -- have a good answer at the ready for this. "I don't remember" or "Someone on Facebook" doesn't help us out -- letting us know your referral source helps us know how to approach the project. "Ask a lot of questions" Yes, yes, yes! Folks with no questions scare me. Do they not care? Do they already know what to expect? Am I just here because they needed another price? Questions give me a starting point to explain how we will do our work and add value to the project. I always ask if folks have questions, and if they don't, it really seems like they don't care. Ask about scheduling, quality of the materials, or how the work phases will be structured. Anything to get a conversation going. We want to get to know you and make sure we are comfortable working with you, as you want to know the same about us. "Ask for references, check to see if they have liability and worker's compensation insurance." Yes -- somewhat. It is never a bad idea to ask for references, and reputable contractors should always be able to provide them upon request. But you should not be depending on these references alone -- by the time the contractor gets to your home you should have already done some investigation on your own. Remember the references the contractor gives you will only be good ones -- so doing your own research will be your best insight into whether you want to hire them Don't hesitate to ask about WC and insurance. As an above-board contractor that has employees, pays our taxes, WC and insurance, I am always happy when people ask about this. I can proudly say "Yes, we are legitimate!" I can't really ever remember being asked to actually provide proof -- but I could within hours if I needed to. "Be specific in what you want completed." Prospective clients that are indecisive are a nightmare. Please have a plan for what you want done. Don't nickel-and-dime your contractor by asking them to estimate every little detail separately (this can actually make things more expensive). If both partners in the household are making decisions together, both of you should be there. If one person is "in charge" of the project, make sure they are present for the meeting. There is nothing more frustrating that meeting someone for an estimate only to find out they are only there to open the door for you -- and that their spouse who is "in charge" of the project is at work. Don't ask us to estimate projects you're "curious about doing in the future, because you're here now". Start with the initial project and work on the next one later. "Don't put down more than a third as a down payment." This is mostly true -- but don't expect your contractor to custom order anything for you with that mentality. As a painter, we don't ask for any deposit because our material costs are such a minor portion of the job, and we have enough liquidity to pay our employees. On a $1000 project, only $150 of that might be in materials, so our model makes sense for us. One the other hand -- we work with remodelers that will order $60k worth of custom windows for an $80k project. It's your responsibility to pay for those (or a large percentage) before they're ordered, since they cannot be returned. Other contractors that order custom materials can probably do a better job of explaining this area than me. "Communicate with your contractor if you are unhappy." Yes! The end of the project when everything is in the truck and we've cleaned up is not the time to ask for touch-ups (or worse yet, once we've left). You should be an active participant in the success of your project. We want to make you happy because it gets us paid and we hope you'll recommend us to your friends. IMPORTANT -- Understand that mistakes and errors happen. They just do. We are working in your occupied home, and we try as hard as we can to make sure everything goes perfectly for you. But please be reasonable with us -- allow us to make things right for you when they go wrong. Yelling, screaming or being a Karen will not get your anywhere. We feel terrible when we mess up, but if you've done your homework before you hired us, you should already know that we will make it right for you. Please allow us to do so if that happens. It is as uncomfortable a situation for us as it as for you. "Let your contractor work and get out of his way. Don't be watching everything he is doing." Yes and no. Once again - you should be an active participant in the success of your project. Don't be afraid to check in with your workers. As them if they have any questions for you. Offer a water of coffee. Get to know them and be kind. (Pro Tip: People will do better work for you if they know you care about them). But please do not bird-dog us. We are happy to explain what we are doing or why we are doing it, being genuinely curious is fine, and we most people are always happy to talk about their work. However, it is extremely uncomfortable when someone is quite literally peering over your shoulder all day long. We are professionals (remember, you should have vetted us!), please let us work our magic and do what we do best. How would you like someone literally looking over your shoulder for 8 hours while you were at your job? "When he is finished and you are happy pay him what he is owed. If you are not satisfied, give him a chance to correct it." Yes! Please pay promptly. We are in fortunate position in our business in that we don't even need to collect money at completion -- we invoice via mail or email within a day or two. We appreciate your prompt payment. You hired us and you knew the project cost when you did so - you should be prepared to pay as soon as we request payment, once the project is done. If you don't pay promptly we will likely blacklist you. We should never need to bug you for payment for a project you hired us for voluntarily. And yes -- please let us make it right if we make an error. We rarely have situations where money is withheld at completion because of issues. However, we have remodeling contractors we know that have had entire bathroom renovation budgets ($50k) withheld for having a missing door handle or other somewhat-minor issues. If you need to withhold payment, it should be roughly equivalent to the cost of the issue you need corrected, but not more. In the door handle scenario -- maybe withhold $500, max. It'll piss off your remodeler enough to make them correct the issue, but it's not putting their business in jeopardy. Be reasonable. "If he does a great job, recommend him to your friends and use him every time you have a project." ALL OF THIS. Once you hire us, we want you to only hire us going forward. We want to be "Your guy". That doesn't mean we want to rip you off in the future or expect to do work without an estimate -- but we want to give you a great experience so that you will never want to use anyone else. Once you're "our" customer we will bend over backwards for you. For our repeat clients we do favors, take care of little time-waster issues and look forward to working for you again. It's extremely disappointing to be in a competitive bid scenario for a customer you've worked for for 20 years. Do we not have your trust yet? Do you not by now know we will give the best price we can and do our best work? We want to earn your business and your repeat business. And also yes -- we really want you to recommend us. Tell your friends. We get calls from new clients that say "My friend Jane said I HAVE to use you guys -- there is no one better". We love to hear that. "Most contractors are small business people and do good work and take pride in what they do." Absolutely. Good contractors are in this for the long haul -- and we are a rare breed. We want to earn your business, your repeat business and your recommendation. We want to make you happy and build or uphold our reputations. Please understand we are not in business to rip you off -- that doesn't help anyone in the long run. EDIT -- Thanks for my first Gold! This post obviously can't cover every situation. Everyone has unique experiences, good or bad. I just wanted people to have some insight into what we deal with on the contractor side of the relationship and how you can use that to get better results on your end. More and more it seems like people have no idea how to deal with contractors. We're a dying breed, unfortunately. Just know that their are good ones out there and they can be found if you know where to look. Sorry for those of you who have had bad experiences in the past -- hopefully you can find contractors that can give you better results in the future. [link] [comments] |
| I tried climbing into my roof today and while on there started panicking and got back down Posted: 22 Nov 2020 04:04 PM PST I wanted to check on one of the roof vent hoods to make sure it was sealed. The other two were easy because they were accessible from the ladder. This one was high up on the roof. As soon as I got off the ladder and was on the steep part, it started getting slippery and I didn't know how I would get back down if I went any higher. I changed my mind and carefully got back on the ladder. I don't know how roofers do it. The last roofer to work on it showed me special soles he had velcro to his shoes that give him extra grip (cougar paws). I see roofers across the street working without harnesses. I think maybe I'll just afraid of heights. I didn't want to become a story about the guy in his 40s who got paralyzed after falling from his roof. [link] [comments] |
| Undermount Kitchen Sink Replaced Posted: 22 Nov 2020 08:25 PM PST A couple of weeks ago, I posted a thread about my Kohler Vault and how much I hated it, also slid into some comments about granite and asked a few questions about the best way to wrestle this old junker out while protecting my countertops. Well, I tackled the project today. Took about 6 hours, should have taken 4, but I had to take a few runs to Home Depot to get it all completed. As mentioned in the post a week or so ago, there was only silicone and about four patches of liquid nails holding the old sink in. It was set by our stone guy when we renovated about 8 years ago. I'm still shocked that it didn't let go with a full load of the days dishes in one side and a stockpot getting filled in the other on a brew day. We went with an Elkay Luxe in charcoal, happened to find it on Amazon for $330 or so, another $45 for the color matched strainer basket, $40 or so for the supports and $30 or so on drain pipe, silicone and other odds and ends. Got it done for far less than the $1000 plus parts we had been quoted, even less than the $7xx full retail price of the sink at our local plumbing store. It was surprisingly easy - just slipped a thin putty knife in to break the silicone, wedged a screwdriver in to pop the liquid nails, and out she came. The worst part was trimming the cabinet box to get it all the way out and to clean up the S shaped cut that our stone guy made all those years ago. Anyway - thanks to all those that had some input for me when I was digging around. Now, we've got a nice sink that I can clean with just a sponge and not my screwdriver or butter knife, its properly sloped, so I don't have to chase food around the sink with the pullout - and best of all, no more damn divider, and I got to redeem myself (don't ask about our little french door project - knocking out the jamb for lock pins didn't go so well) Here's the whole Gallery. Even had a buddy show up to cheer me on when I went out back to knock all the sawdust off of myself. [link] [comments] |
| Essential tools for first home buyer? Posted: 22 Nov 2020 06:07 PM PST I got a small tool box with a hammer, screw drivers, hobby saw, measuring tape, and a small electric drill that I've been using for small projects while renting for the past 10 years. I'm buying my first home, 1600 sq/ft 4 bedroom/2 bath with front and backyard and I'm really looking forward to learning how to properly maintain the home and DIY projects as they come up. What is your list of essential tools every homeowner should have for routine maintenance and small projects? [link] [comments] |
| Removing paint from stone fireplace? Posted: 22 Nov 2020 05:30 PM PST Just bought a home in the midwest. Prior owners painted over the stone with a dark navy paint. I want to bring it back to the original natural stone, and wondering how to go about stripping it. I'm relatively new to home improvement and on a budget with only basic hardware and tools, so looking to the home improvement pros on reddit for any advice y'all might have to get this awful dark color off the fireplace. Thanks in advance! [link] [comments] |
| Need help with a medicine cabinet replacement, cant find a size. Posted: 22 Nov 2020 08:52 PM PST Hi, I moved into an apartment and the medicine cabinet is in bad shape. the current one is rusted and mirror is getting black. I cannot for the life of me find a replacement aside from the exact crappy kind: Jensen B703850 24 x 19 in. 2 Door Contempora Medicine Cabinet with Steel Basic White. All the ones i like are taller rather then wider. is there anywhere else i can look? [link] [comments] |
| What's The Best Way To Protect Matte Black Faucets? Posted: 22 Nov 2020 07:48 PM PST What the title says. I just got a new one and want to last a while. Are there any products or cleaning methods that can help with this? [link] [comments] |
| Where to Buy QUALITY Pop Up Drain Kits That Don’t Leak? Posted: 22 Nov 2020 07:28 PM PST I'm tearing my hair out... I had to replace the pop up drain in a sink because the pivot rod rotted through, and I bought a replacement kit from Home Depot, made from ABS. It leaked at the joint where the ball from the pivot arm entered the vertical pipe, and had a really cheap little beveled gasket that deformed as soon as I tightened the nut. I then went to a local hardware store and bought a new full-on kit, made of chromed metal. Despite the much hardier construction, this one is leaking now too. While I'm no pro plumber, I feel I have the ability to follow directions and install these parts, and have done so correctly in these cases. It's not like I'm over-tightening the nuts, you can't even do that or the pop up mechanism won't function. Can anyone recommend a brand/model of an actual quality assembly that isn't a total POS? I'm at the end of my rope here... The AB [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 22 Nov 2020 07:05 PM PST I just had a total HVAC overhaul to replace my old system and we added the I WAVE-R (not trying to find a cure to covid over here, just looking to reduce allergens and dust, had to say that as it seems to be a hot button issue) but anyways, when I opened the cabinet up it was in a completely different spot than I thought it would be. I posted to r/HVAC already and got conflicting answers so looking to see if anyone has experience with installing one of these. It was also the only manual not left behind from the installing company as well. It is installed in the bottom left corner. [link] [comments] |
| What's the easiest way to replace this light with a recessed style light? Posted: 22 Nov 2020 03:19 PM PST I have a few of these contractor grade ceiling lights in a few hallways that I would like to replace with recessed lights. Are there recessed lights out there that easily replace fixtures like this? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 22 Nov 2020 06:31 PM PST So, I'm remodeling my new home and I ripped up the carpet from the previous owner and it looks like there was an excessive amount of glue used. Any recommendations for getting it up? I want to replace the flooring with vinyl plank and the glue is proving to be an issue. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 22 Nov 2020 09:55 PM PST Hi! I recently mounted a 40" TV a bit too high, and am thinking I need to move it down a few inches lower in order to avoid hurting my neck too much trying to watch from my desk. It seems fairly secure to the stud in the wall, but since the mount itself is supposed to be installed vertically, I have the weight distributed ONLY to the one stud. I'm particularly worried that removing the mount and positioning it lower on the same stud would compromise it somehow. It's unfortunately the only place in my room where I can comfortably mount the TV and moving it over to a different stud isn't really ideal, since my desk is sitting below where the TV is and I'd have to reposition a lot of the mount arms on my desk to be able to SEE the TV from other parts of the room. I'm just wondering if I have anything to really worry about in regards to moving the mount further down on the same stud. It's the first TV I've ever mounted and my house was built in 1929 - I'm just a paranoid about the integrity of the wall and kind of want some insight from folks who've installed mounts in old houses or whatever. (Link to the mount I bought, btw. https://www.target.com/p/core-innovations-full-motion-tv-mount-10-49-34/-/A-80283032#lnk=sametab ) [link] [comments] |
| Who installs the transition strip between new tile and old carpet? Posted: 22 Nov 2020 11:19 AM PST I'm installing some tile for a new bar in my basement. I'll be laying tile next week. After that I will be installing cabinets. At the end of the bar where the tile ends will be existing carpet that will need a transition. I don't want something raised and have Z-bars in the rest of my house, but I think that needs to be installed before the tile. And that's not an option here. Is there a nice transition a carpet installer can do later? [link] [comments] |
| Mudding new drywall in basement , need help on tips and tricks how to properly do this Posted: 22 Nov 2020 09:52 PM PST Hi guys, I've taken over a basement project. There has been new drywall installed everywhere, metal corner beads. Everything has been tapped, and The first coat of mud was applied with all purpose (green bucket). Now I have to continue mudding I believe 2 more times, what do you guys recommend how to do this properly? What tools would I need as well? Thanks for any help!! [link] [comments] |
| shower stall kit without panel caulking Posted: 22 Nov 2020 09:47 PM PST Im looking for a cheaper shower stall kit, like base plus walls, where the walls click together and have drainage holes and the panels do NOT need to be caulked together or to the pan. I heard they make these, but it is a pain to read the instruction manual of every item before finding this detail! I once had a kit where I had to caulk between the wall panels, and it looked terrible, and terrible to maintain. [link] [comments] |
| Quick and dirty way to fix outlet not fitting? Posted: 22 Nov 2020 05:55 PM PST I've got an outlet where the whole is too large for the receptacle and the left side pushes in. Is there a quick and dirty way to fix this without putting in new sheet rock? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 22 Nov 2020 03:42 PM PST Hi! I'm about to begin renovating my room and redoing all the walls and painting some custom artwork on them. (I believe this falls into murals) I've been doing some research on what types of paint to use indoors, and I've found brands such as Valspar, Liquitex, etc. etc. If there's any artists that have painted rooms inside of their homes, I was wondering what time of paint you all used! I was thinking of using normal acyrlic paint and adding primer on the end to seal it. I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts. ☺️ [link] [comments] |
| How to go about sealing bottom of door? Posted: 22 Nov 2020 05:54 PM PST I am hoping to get some guidance on how to go about sealing the bottom of a doorway that goes from my kitchen to the backyard. When I moved in, the interior door sweep was in rough shape, so I replaced it earlier today. It was a simple piece of aluminum with a vinyl sweep. However, to get the placement so that cold air wasn't blowing underneath, I had to place the sweep so low that it rubbed on the kitchen floor so severely that the door couldn't be opened more than about halfway. This is probably why the old sweep was in such bad shape. What is an alternate way I could go about sealing this? The house is fairly old, and the gap under the door is very uneven. On the inner side, there is very small gap between the door and the floor (maybe 1/16") and on the outer side the gap is about 3/4". The floor itself is concrete with a raised section along the doorway. Other than the concrete hump in between, the floor and ground outside are essentially on the same level. Happy to provide pictures of they would be helpful. [link] [comments] |
| A mess of paint/finish questions on my rather train wreck projects Posted: 22 Nov 2020 09:34 PM PST Hello, TABLE 1: vinyl plank flooring over linoleum covered mdf or weird hard cardboard. TABLE 2: oil based stain over wood BUT rounded edges are bare now since I had to sand stain off. Stain goes right to start of rounded edge. Wood is light colored, soft, idk what kind. PRODUCTS: QUESTIONS: —table 1 background: Was super chipped and gouged so I covered with stick on vinyl flooring on top and side edges. Used wood filler to fill in cracks. Thought it would be pretty but now want to paint over all of that anyway, at least all surfaces are now smooth and sharply edged! Please be kind. This is my first time doing these types of projects and I'm keeping myself sane trying new things on crappy old furniture while quarantined. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 22 Nov 2020 09:28 PM PST Hello! Our lights in the kitchen are can lights but they look different than any tutorial I've seen. I was wondering if anyone had seen lights like these and knew what I needed to do to replace them with recessed LED lighting? I can't find a tutorial anywhere and they look smaller than normal can lights. https://imgur.com/gallery/OC50fu5 [link] [comments] |
| Is there a neighbor etiquette for installing a fence? Posted: 22 Nov 2020 12:41 PM PST Recently moved into my first home. Planning on installing a white polyvinyl fence in my backyard in a subdivision for my dog to be able to run freely. I've talked with my neighbors (not about the fence) and had a surveyor come out already. The survey indicated that my property lines are further out than I thought. The neighbors on both sides have been mowing about 2 feet (one mower column) of my yard. Should I communicate more with my neighbors about my fence or am I ok to install? Edit: I messed up, I have talked about the fence before with my neighbors that we were gonna put one up, but not about the survey lines. My fault [link] [comments] |
| Help me figure out how to make this bed happen Posted: 22 Nov 2020 09:22 PM PST https://i2.wp.com/www.planete-deco.fr/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/TH1-1.jpg?ssl=1[bed idea](https://i2.wp.com/www.planete-deco.fr/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/TH1-1.jpg?ssl=1) To whoever took the time to check this post, thank you, I'm a beginner and currently I have a bedroom of about 13*15 feet with an average height of about 8or 9 feet.. so I feel my bedroom is cramped and I recently saw this on Pinterest I would love to do something similar but more simple I think my bed on the bottom since the the heaviest object and then on top not a living room but I have a papasan chair and maybe a small table like a nightstand or something now the length of my room I feel it's too long to do a side to side plank like it shows here so I'm wondering how to do a secure structure that won't take that much space that will be able to support my weight plus the chair and nightstand using on one corner of the plank a wooden beam or s column or something, hope I was able to explain what I have in mind, also I have wood floor so I don't want anything that would need the floor to be touched almost like a bunk bed but instead of bunk bed a mini seat area on top. Anyone can tell me how could I possibly do this? [link] [comments] |
| Is it a horrible idea long term to install something/drill into vinyl siding? Posted: 22 Nov 2020 05:36 PM PST I want to install a bat box on the side of my house. But I currently have vinyl siding on my house. Is it a bad idea to drill into the vinyl siding to install the bat box? What happens if I decide to remove the bat box in a few years? [link] [comments] |
| Garage Door - Extension vs Torsion Springs? Posted: 22 Nov 2020 09:18 PM PST Hello, I hope this is a good place to post this question. Recently one of the extension springs on my garage doors snapped but the safety cable prevented it from causing any damage. I'm wondering if it's worth upgrading my perfectly functional garage doors to use a torsion spring for safety reasons? Are the safety cables with the extension springs safe enough? Thanks! [link] [comments] |
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