Our recent experience (and rec. for mason / GC)

When others have posted generally about their experiences/advice about big renovations, etc, I’ve found it helpful, so I figured I should do the same.

We just got done with a major renovation to our c. 1870 building–a totally new experience for me, though my father was a GC (in another state), so I am pretty familiar with a lot of this. My rec’s/what I learned:

First off, let me HIGHLY recommend Nick and his crew at Transcend Construction. In stark contrast to my experience with all of the other work/workers/jobs we had done, Nick and his guys were awesome. They took care of our masonry work, very expertly, very quickly, and for a great price. Nick was on the job a minimum of once a day, sometimes 2-3 times, which I believe made all the difference (see below). Unlike the other masons I met with, Nick seemed to find a good balance between waterproofing and letting the bricks breathe (we ended up waterproofing underground on one side of the bldg where we were having some trouble that was obviously coming from the ground up–a rec no one else made), and he was knowlegable about the pre-1900 brick/mortar issues that the other masons disregarded. He also does general contracting. I REALLY wish I’d used him as our GC for the big interior reno, but I didn’t meet him until after we’d started that work. Nick @ Transcend Construction: 347-407-1816
Tell him Cammie recommended him.

We converted from oil to gas (steam heat), and we used LPCS & Sons Heating and Plumbing (Steven: 917-418-9654). They seemed to do a good job at a fair price (though honestly all three quotes I got were almost exactly the same price). I’ll happily use them again for any heating/plumbing needs in the future. The only thing is that the whole project left our previously clean basement quite a mess, which is probably pretty typical. When interviewing someone for a conversion like this, I’d definitely ask how well they clean up after the job is done. It’s a stinky, messy job, and in my opinion, the professionals who undertake it should clean it up, too. (I’d ask this of anyone you are considering to do any kind of work. Nick’s guys cleaned up well, the GC cleaned up moderately well.)

When choosing a GC, don’t just think of it as interviewing the actual GC. Be sure to ask how often he will actually be on the job. We chose a GC from a design-build firm around the block from us, literally. I found him to be very impressive. He seemed down-to-earth, honest, smart, skilled, etc. But once the job started, I pretty much only saw him when a payment was due or when I insisted he come to do a walk-through with me. His guys were NOT reliable. They were very slow, hung out far more than worked, and were not detail-oriented. I found myself being the one who had to talk to them every morning, ask exactly what was going to get done that day, etc; and the guys were not terribly responsive to me. I think part of what you pay a GC for is to do this very thing–or at least have a foreman decent enough to do it. Basically, managing the job was a giant headache and took a LOT of time, it took FAR longer than it should have, and the work was only mediocre.

Another thing I’d do upfront is insist that a full crew be on the job until the job was done. We had the typical thing happen to us: a full crew (who screwed around like mad) for the first month, then part-time crews for the next three months. If they would have been on the ball, the whole job should have been done in a month to six weeks, easily, especially with the full crew (4-5 guys) they sent over the first month.

One thing I did do when interviewing GC’s was discuss how much over their quote they tend to go, and make clear that I had a budget to stick to. I’ve heard horror stories about the end price being 50% higher than the quote, even for more-or-less the same work. I know things come up and some things just cost more, but I also know GC’s scam people a LOT this way. Frankly, we really did have a strict budget to stick to, so in a few cases we had to compromise on things we wanted when other expenses crept up. But my thinking is this: if the job is a lot quicker than they thought/quoted, the quoted price doesn’t come DOWN, so why should it always come up if the job ends up being more complicated/longer than anticipated? The GC should do a thorough enough inspection and quote to get pretty close to the “right” price… It should be motivation for them to stay on top of their crew.

Finally, I unfortunately didn’t do the thing a few people here recommended, which is to be firm about the payment schedule. That is, agree to a schedule such as: 1/3 up front, 1/3 when the job is 2/3 done, and the final 1/3 when the job is DONE. When our GC asked for almost all of the last 1/3 before the job was completely finished (“Just hold back a couple thousand until we get those last details done.”), I agreed, stupidly. Now it’s almost a month later and those last details still aren’t done… I’m sure if I’d insisted the WHOLE job be completed before making that last big payment, we would have been done long ago…