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Changes in Construction Laws and getting a contractor
Submitted by Craig Weiler on Tue, 02/14/2006 - 5:25pm.
As I've mentioned in some of my posts, I'm a licensed general building contractor in California. The laws became a bit stricter
this year, which is something everyone should know. Also, because of what I do, I see a lot of the wreckage of poor contractor
decisions, so I'm going to include some advice on choosing a contractor.
The law changes I'm dealing with apply only to residential, not commercial construction.
Most importantly, a contractor cannot charge anything in advance except for the deposit. You do not pay for materials until
you receive them and you do not pay for labor until it is completed.
Here is the site:
A lot of the rule changes have to do with stating important information on the contract so that the customer is informed properly.
The other important thing about construction contracts is the three day right of cancellation rule. This law has been around
awhile and it applies to any contract where you have been sold the product in your own home. You have the right to cancel
the contract within three days.
Choosing a Contractor: I specialize in small jobs myself. I fill the niche in between a handyman and a house builder, and
I work totally off referrals. Because of this trusted status, I get called in by people when things go wrong.
Most of the problems I've seen are created by people trying to get the lowest price they can and ignoring the warning signs
of a bad contractor.
The contract is a dead giveaway.
I always ask to see the contract in these cases, and often there isn't one. More than once, it's been a price circled on yellow
lined paper and a handshake. A lot of money has changed hands and not enough work has been done, or it's been done poorly.
Where there is a contract, it's never completely spelled out and progress payments are vaguely written.
I hear the same thing every time: "But he was such a nice guy!"
For the record. You don't want a nice guy for a contractor; This isn't a personality contest. You want the person who is organized,
clearly explains things and is a stickler for documentation.
People who are truly honest won't tell you what you want to hear and won't make promises that they can't or won't keep. They
will concentrate on telling you the risks and make sure you understand. They will negotiate very little because they know
their costs and they are not afraid to lose your business. They will never be the cheapest bid.
You might be interested to know that when I hire sub-contractors, I concentrate on quality first, and price a distant second.
I've spoken to other contractors about this and most of them are of the same opinion. It's simple math. It's so expensive
to hire cheap subs because of all the hassles that occur, that they're not worth it.
The cheap people are never on time, you have to follow behind them to make sure that the work is done right and then cross
your fingers that they didn't hide something from you. Sometimes their lousy work can't be totally fixed. Their contracts
are always vague and they never seem to do all the work that they promised.
Keep this in mind the next time you have to hire a contractor. Look closely at the contract and pay attention to how they're
conducting business with you. Make that your first priority and price your second, and you'll have much better luck.
Here's a great comment from one of my readers:
as if
Submitted by Tim on Mon, 02/27/2006 - 10:20pm.
"Most of the problems I've seen are created by people trying to get the lowest price they can and ignoring the warning signs
of a bad contractor."
You have obviously never had to hire a contractor. The problem is not looking for the lowest price. The way it works is you
get some good names and call, and maybe a few of them come out to do an estimate, and they say they'll be in touch in a few
days. You never hear from them again. Then you go thru the yellow pages and the internet, and repeat the process. After several
months, you hire the first guy who will show up to do the work and you hope for the best, with your heart sunken into your
stomach. I eventually got a contractor to retile my bathroom floor. He looked like a homeless man and worked for an outfit
from another town. He showed up to tear out the old floor, which was the hardest part of the job but he didn't know who would
be installing the new one. After tearing it up, the bosses decided he was the only one available to do the new floor, even
though he had never done one before. The results were acceptable. If he was working for himself, I imagine he just wouldn't
have shown up.
The problem is self employed Americans are the biggest flakes in the world. They have their wives or girlfriends answering
the phones and taking messages, and those women can never even be bothered to learn the answers to basic questions like what
kind of construction work their men even do. And it goes downhill from there. Their husbands are too chickensh*t to say they
are too busy, or the job is too small, or ever explain why the hell they don't want to take the job. How hard is that?
If contractors weren't such flakes, the industry as a whole would have so much more business. All I have learned from owning
a house for 12 months is if you can't do it yourself, you are screwed, and never call a contractor unless you absolutely positively
have to. And everyone I have ever talked to says the same thing.
I just love how these guys roll their eyes like you're the idiot when you don't know the vocabulary like mudding, or soffet.
At least I know how to return a phone call or follow thru on my word.
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Finding and choosing someone for the small construction jobs in the Bay Area
Submitted by Craig Weiler on Thu, 02/16/2006 - 8:30pm.
This is actually a difficult question in the Bay Area. There are certainly quite a few people out there, but how do you find
them? And who do you choose?
Just so you know, the difference between a handyman and a contractor is $500. A handyman cannot legally take on a job over
$500 or use subcontractors and a general building contractor can. Licensed people also have to post a bond.
A big problem with this profession is that most people who do this are good at working with their hands and do good work,
but are not good businesspeople. A lot of them have a high school education and hate working for other people.
Many of my customers have had handymen in the past, but those people have moved on to something else. It's because it's hard
to run your own business. So the handyman you had last year is gone this year.
You can hire a company like Handyman Connection, but they go through people too. And it's really the right person you're trying to hire, not the company.
By far, the most successful method is getting a referral from someone you know. This means that the person you're choosing
has already done work properly for someone else.
Handymen who are doing a lot of advertising are generally competing on price. Because this is a skilled profession, that's
not always what you want. The handymen and contractors who live on referrals generally do better work.
The least expensive people are the ones doing the work on the side. That is, they have a regular job and they are fitting
you in. Sometimes, this is a great deal for everyone. Often though, it's a nightmare for the homeowner.
The main complaint is that the work is done in fits and starts over a long period of time. Because your job is done at the
end of their day, the quality often suffers as well. And if they have to choose between you and their regular job, you lose.
They are the most likely to walk away from an incomplete job.
A handyman can be anyone who is handy. It can be a tradesman with years of experience in their profession or just someone
who thinks they can do the work. In my travels I've run into both.
To be a general building contractor you're required to work in the profession for four years and take an exam. (There are
exceptions, but they're largely irrelevant here.)
Naturally there's a price difference. Handymen in the Bay Area generally run from $25 to $40 an hour, depending on how much
they think they're worth. (Double this if they're working for a company.) A contractor will usually base their contract
on wages of $60 to $75 an hour. They have a real business and that takes money.
One more thing. Unless you're really experienced, avoid time and materials (T&M) contracts. They are the bane of the construction
industry. All sorts of problems you've never thought of can occur. It's too easy for everyone to end up unhappy. Personally,
I will only do T & M for close friends.
The problem most people have is that an estimate is just that. An estimate. It's not a contract price. And inexperienced
people almost always underestimate the price. So your estimate can look good, but the actual price can end up being double
that. With an estimate, the worker is not required to get the price right. That's where most of the trouble starts.
Not surprisingly, many budding handymen prefer T & M to avoid the liability of signing up to a fixed price.
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