5 Rules for Hiring a Contractor

Knowing How to Properly Enter a Contract and setting up a healthy work relationship is the key to a successful renovation! Learn from the pro How to Sign the Bottom Line with Confidence. Cheers!

[OwlingDogDesign]

I've been both successful and unsuccessful hiring people to do work. So, I've learned the hard way that even small contracts make a difference. For instance, I was too busy to do my lawn when I was getting ready to sell my house. I had several people give me prices and the work was not performed to my expectations. So, after listening to you early on in your videos, I made line items that I had the landscaper fill in line by line on cost. In RFP, I noted that if an item was not completed the cost would also be deleted on that line and they would not be paid. I DID have to omit pay for what the last company said they were going to do but didn't. They offered to return to complete it, but I declined and did it myself. I figured if you can't read it the first time, there is no need to come back and do it again.


But, contracts as a whole are tricky. I had an engineer design my septic system based on a verbal quote which, when billed, was more than three times the original verbal quote. I was in such debt with this home, taking literally years to sell the house (I was under water based on the extreme cost of the septic system). I didn't have the energy to fight him. I did get the advice of an attorney who said I did not owe him anything. I tried to hire another designer, but companies were hesitant to work with me based on my having to pay two designers in the end at the sale. So, I bit the bullet, used his terrible design which was worked and reworked until someone could do it for <$60, and paid him. I learned NEVER EVER EVER accept a verbal quote on work from ANYONE.

[lildellw]

"The best courses to take is on YouTube Home Renovision Diy" I totally agree!! Jeff you are a great and honest teacher man. I learned to do my first laminate floor off this channel. THANK YOU!

[heidiual]

I’ve learned a few things from my several renovations:
- If you find a good contractor, hold on to him/her because they are rare.
- Include trash and construction material removal in your contract.
- I had a kitchen renovated once and the contractor destroyed the basement in the process of installing pipes, electrical, heat... I had to hire another contractor to fix the basement. Make sure your contrat covers unintended damages to adjacent rooms or property.
- I paid $8000 for window replacement and never saw or heard of contractor again. Taking him to small claims court and winning is great... collecting is impossible.

[turboflush]

Good point on the being your own contractor for building first house.
Homeowners look at it as they think they can save money.
Even additions can have tons of issues.

[mueckenhoeffer]

Now why did I assume you had not already covered this topic when I challenged you to do this during the c-19 vacation? Pausing while I comment, so I don't miss anything. There are a lot of good comments in your playback of your live session.
Making notes to self to see if you cover it:



- DIY, DIY assist, DIY rescue? I didn't hear it explicitly covered, but it seems like calling in a rescue or assist puts the customer into your "servant" category immediately.

- Advances. When is it reasonable? How much? OK, you answered this well. 10% for pure services, and cost of materials delivered to my site (maybe).

- Demo - should I do it? What problems can that cause me? I didn't hear this covered either, but I guess the customer is opening themselves to being the failing party.

- Scope creep?

- Hidden problems - how to negotiate them into the existing contract? (for example, should a roofer expect to replace "x" linear feet of trim/fascia, etc. whether or not he or she notes it in the estimate? Should a bathroom guy write in a certain amount for remediating water damage (what bathroom reno does not encounter some degree of water damage?



Your first category we call the "pickup contractor" down south of you. These are often the 50% advance guys, and the pay-me-daily guys.


Your second category often hires a lot of day laborers. Back when I had a 2500 series diesel pickup, I could not stop at the 7-11 for a coffee without 6 guys asking me (often in another language) if I had any work. So a guy with a small crew may be hiring day laborers of questionable talent. The one thing I did notice was these non-English speaking workers worked hard! With proper supervision, their work ethic easily made up for lack of polished skills.



Good, fast, cheap - pick two. I think that comes from the project management triangle.


Are there resources for contract templates a homeowner could use to help protect themselves? I know you're not a lawyer, but is this a thing a lawyer might have at a reasonable price? Nevermind, one of your live viewers suggested the AIA. They have customer focused forms, but they are not free (you get what you pay for). At 52:50 or so you talk about a sample contract.


Not sure if this is a thing in Canada also, but I've heard of subs getting stiffed by the prime, then the homeowner being held liable. I guess this goes back to the contract.



So a thing I'm hearing 19 minutes in is that you assume the contractor is a person of reasonable business acumen. Ability to hang and finish drywall well does not guarantee the person has any business intelligence.



I like that you responded to the "woman" thing with an actual analysis of the situation. One of my male colleagues was charged $700 for a dryer vent replacement that should have been a $150 plus materials job. He is a very intelligent guy in his field, but a babe in the woods when it comes to "man skills".


 A very good message I heard was to clearly define the job you want done. You don't explicitly say it, but you need to address the what-ifs. What if the contractor pulls up the carpet to find a rotten floorboard, and a rotten floor joist under it? What if a contractor finds clear code violations? How do you remediate those? Do you write in you have a week or two to remediate?



It's very generous of you to put out so much customer facing knowledge given that you do this for a living.

[bcarss]

Off subsect. My Dad worked a lot when I was a kid.  He was a little bit of a procrastinator when it came to home improvements (I don't blame him).  We had to make settlement selling our house on a Saturday.  When I was 12 (50 now), I helped my Dad ( who is not a contractor or in the trades) completely renovate a tiny bathroom over night.  Everything except the feed plumbing and bathtub, literally overnight.  A new tub surround and fixtures,   new toilet, new vanity/sink/fixtures, replaced in-wall medicine cabinet, a vinyl sheet floor, trim, and a little paint, new light/fan in ceiling, and wall light and mirror above the vanity.  I learned a lot from him then and over the years.  Thanks Dad.

[Jeff-xyfv]

8:50 - On the contrary! If I'm forced to work in freezing weather, my price goes WAY up! After the experiences this past winter (wiring two new houses), I've decided I am NOT doing such a project in the winter ever again! Also, forget about service upgrades. In the first place, they take 8 hours to complete, and there is simply not enough daylight hours in the winter -- cold or not. Secondly, much of the work is outdoors - installing grounding rods, meter base installation, etc. The ground is frozen, so it is difficult to get a rod into it. From now on, I will tell customers to either wait until spring or hire someone else.

[emes]

Looks like you "Did it yourself and don't own tools" ! That's a good one. Made me laugh.

[RyanRaskop]

As a licensed Architect in California, wondering what your take is on an Owner hiring an Architect to be their advocate - especially with new construction or at least using an Architect in an advisory role as a consultant. Could be very beneficial to the homeowner since the Architect is tasked with acting in your best interest as your agent.

[Stevej]

This is great knowledge, Jeff. Thanks, mate. It's a bugger that you aren't an Aussie. You always make sense. Cheers. Yes, a quick job means cutting corners which is never good.

[AB-vggt]

This was amazingly informative, thank you! I'm a widow about to hire for hardwoods, a complete renovation of two bathrooms and a kitchen and I've not had the best luck in the past. I recently had a new roof put on. I specified in writing to my contractor the brand of shingle I wanted. As agreed, he used that brand of shingle. All other parts of the roof he used the brand I specifically said I did not want, and because they were two different brands, they did not completely match. I accept my responsibility in that I only asked for that brand of "shingle" not "shingle and anything else you might use made of the same substance". lol I did not know to ask for ridge vents, etc to be same brand. How does a lay person educate themselves well enough to even know to ask these levels of questions?

[piolovespunk]

So many amazing tips in here. Bring your own contract... blew my mind. Makes so much sense yet seems so atypical in the process most people experience.


A BIG question i didn't hear covered. How do you find candidates? Don't trust paid sites like HomeAdvisor or AngiesList where contractors can just pay to appear at the top. Some projects I've had difficulty finding one contractor, let alone multiple, and options obviously will yield the best result. Any tips for finding more options?

[TheMoogoescow]

I hope you see this: You mentioned the financial consequences we should put in our contract when the contractor violates it. Could you clarify or list some examples of how much should be charged in those instances? Thank you! -Tara

[trulocks]

I like how passionate you are about your work. You obviously value quality and I'm one who do not mind paying for quality.
Please come to Georgia, Atlanta. I need you to Reno my house.

[stormshadow]

I have a test for anyone who is going to work on my property. I ask them "how many 1/16's are in an inch?", "draw and label me an inch."


You would not believe how many people fail, sad.

[rene]

Thank God for —- you! This was a great video, full of really important info. It’s going to save me lots of lost sleep and $$$ Loved it!

[neliodicola]

Do you recommend any software or tool out there to help when planning/designing a new project like a deck or finishing a basement?

[rcruz]

Can anyone recommend a good Contractor to do hard wire smokes and possibly a fire alarm system for a 4plex here in Rhode Island?

[richardburguillos]

Great topic... great advice.... love that added TV in the background. I’m assuming some PowerPoint presentation highlighting points etc. is in the future? Like the spinning logo, but a bit distracting when your talking... it’s just too cool to look at you when it’s in motion... 😉. Also auto hide that taskbar. You guys are great..

[justiceonly]

Hi,
I'm very grateful for you & your excellent YouTube channel. I'm planning on a $100, 000 home renovation, would you please tell me where or how can I get a custome made legal contract especially that I can't be on site more than once every 3 weeks?
Thank you