Deciding between contractors for kitchen+deck renovation
I’m interested in feedback as to how to decide between contractors when more than one seems good but each have red flags of one sort or the other. In our case, one possible contractor would work on a time+materials basis and checks out wonderfully (the most references and I’ve seen his work in person), but this is a permitted deck+kitchen job and he doesn’t do exteriors and doesn’t want to be responsible for the deck part of the permit, so there are logistical issues (plus the extra legwork of separately contracting for exterior if he does the interior). Another is clearly knowledgeable and honest and our architect recommended him and he also checks out independently, but he is insisting on the window-to-door conversion being a big project, being built out from the inside (instead of the outside as we prefer, to preserve the trim), so we lose our trim and our symmetry along that wall of windows (and thus have to put the door off the kitchen instead of the dining room). A third is also clearly knowledgeable and innovative and honest but a bit more into line items and isn’t someone anyone I know has ever used, he isn’t on the local circuit (yet) but our trusted/beloved architect recommended him, and my gut isn’t sure he is the right person for the job (but he might be). A fourth isn’t as responsive and might be giving not-as-good advice on process, and has more other jobs going at once than the others, but he checks out with people I know and others I trust. In our case, timing matters (we are in a 2 family house and re-orienting the layout so the rental is on the ground floor instead of the top floor, and have no tenant as of this week and need rental income, so that each week/month we delay choosing someone means lost rental income) – So getting more bids seems unnecessary here. How do others go about deciding when they have at least 4 good candidates, but concerns about each? No one is perfect, so at some point is the right approach to get as much info as possible, weigh the pro’s and con’s, and jump? Thanks for any feedback!
jeanmarine2
in General Contractors 12 years and 2 months ago
2
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2 replies
brokelin | 12 years and 2 months ago
Keep looking until you have one with no red flags. There’s enough stuff that comes up that is hairy to deal with even in the best case, where you go in with no red flags. Worth a bit more lost rental income, to have the best possible reno outcome, in my opinion. That’s what I always did getting contractors for my coop building, and things always worked out quite well. Recommendations are key. Responsiveness and their busyness isn’t as key, in my experience, if, big IF, the work you’ve seen that they do is great, but you need to grill their recommenders (and them) about whether they will (1.) start your job when they say they will, and (2.) move to finish it in a timely manner – sometimes building financial incentives into the contract to get them to start and finish can be done. We had one contractor who did gorgeous work, worth waiting for, but the responsiveness and delay in starting would have driven me crazy were it a situation where we needed the work done fast. (I just hoped they were off doing other people’s more time-crucial jobs, while our not-time-sensitive one waited and waited. It was worth waiting for.)
ProHeights66 | 12 years and 2 months ago
Here’s my advice — having done a kitchen and attached deck that I love as part of a larger b’stone reno: Don’t hire someone whose work you haven’t seen. Don’t hire someone who will only do part of the job — you want one GC to be responsible for the deck so that the transition between kitchen (or DR) and deck is seamless (literally, seamless — it is very tricky to get a door that has no step up or step down, but my GC did it beatifully). And I would be wary of a time + materials. A good contractor should know the timing and materials up front. At the end of the day, there will probably only be one who meets your ideal intersection of cost, quality and timing.