Accepting Contractor Bids- What Should I make sure to do?
I’ve gotten my three bids from well-referred contractors for my apt. gut reno. I have the scope of the job written out in detail by an architect who’s not overseeing the job. Is there anything I should require/think about/beware of before accepting one of the bids? Also, what are typical payment schedules? It’s a 45-65K…
I’ve gotten my three bids from well-referred contractors for my apt. gut reno. I have the scope of the job written out in detail by an architect who’s not overseeing the job. Is there anything I should require/think about/beware of before accepting one of the bids? Also, what are typical payment schedules? It’s a 45-65K job.
If you had an architect who was helping you more, they’d tell you all this. You withhold 10% from each of the progress payments, then your last payment is for 10%, plus whatever you withheld previously. Depending on the length of construction, you’ll do payments weekly, bi-weekly or monthly.
Get your payment schedule into about 5-6 installments and make sure there is a pretty big lump sum at the end (like 20%). Make sure you don’t get ahead of the work in your payments and don’t get nickel and dimed for paymtns in between the schedule. Even good contractors hate doing the little stuff at the end because ti always takes longer and there are always changes because it’s visible. They would rather start a new job and leave you hanging if they are not going to lose money by petering out at the end.
Also, make sure your GC has the reserves to order materials so that they are on site when he needs them, including room for vendor error.
Also, make sure your GC is going to inspect goods and materials as tehy come in so any corrections can be made without losing too much time on the job.