Here’s a good question to ponder: Are you intimidated by contractors?

From all of the horror stories you have heard about home renovations and contractors it would be unusual if you were not at least a little intimidated. If you can acquire knowledge of how to properly deal with and control the situation and the project this feeling of intimidation will no doubt change. Of course having the knowledge to protect yourself and implementing this knowledge base may well be intimidating to your potential contractor. However, consider the most important part of the scenario: Whose house is being worked on and whose money is paying for it? If your answer is "it’s MY house!" then choosing which party (if any) should be intimidated should be pretty easy.

It is critically important that you realize this: Construction Is An Imperfect Process!

All the construction attorneys in the world, all of the legitimate, well meaning contractors in the world and an endless supply of cash cannot ensure that you will have a smooth, trouble free project. Construction just is not that way. Construction is an imperfect science at best. Since construction is performed by multiple humans with different backgrounds, different work ethics and experiences and different incentives you can readily see that about the best you can hope for is to keep problems to a minimum. The result of a construction project is nothing at all like the result of manufacturing a new car. It is critical that you give that some thought because it is an important analogy.

It would be appropriate to ask "How can I acquire the knowledge necessary to minimize the problems ?

Trying to find a relatively quick and easy way to obtain the knowledge of how to cover our bases, protect our investment dollars AND to have at least some degree of control over what happens in your project is indeed a serious challenge. How can we learn from the mistakes of others without making them ourselves? Mistakes are great teachers. Learning from the mistakes others have made is much less painful than learning from your own. Here are some ways you can do this:

Talk to friends and acquaintances who have been through home renovations. Their experiences, good and bad, can be immensely helpful. Ask them to help you understand what worked and what did not work. Find out what problems they encountered and, if possible, why they occurred. If you have the time and opportunity to talk to several people who have been through the process with different contractors and different degrees of renovation complexity you will get a great education in what to expect.

In addition, find a professional who has dealt with these types of projects numerous times and ask for advice. If you can find someone who has the expertise, even if you have to pay for a few hours of his/her time you can easily save that amount by gaining knowledge about how to control your project.

The real bottom line question is simply "Who should be in control ?" (Back to ‘Your House, Your Money….Do the math!’)