A builder and a client may have a complicated relationship. When you’re dealing with your home, sensitive and incredibly important issues arise. While communication is key, there could be a few things we builders are not saying. Sometimes there isn’t time to describe, sometimes we’re worried you’ll take it the wrong way, and at times we simply have a lot on our mind. Here is my point of view as a builder on which yours might not be telling you.
1. We want to make you happy, if we could figure out how. There are many details on a job that are not cut and dried, with multiple potential results. One person wishes to see the brushstrokes on a painted cabinet, while another considers them a error that needs to be corrected. Your top priority might be something many other folks don’t care about. Sometimes what you think is obvious and clear is anything but. Multiply this with a million details and you start to understand why the process of getting to know you and your fantasies is a struggle. Bear with us and know that when we wind up doing something that does not make you happy, it does not necessarily mean we did not try — and we will keep trying until we get it directly.
2. We’re privy to the details of your own life, but we’re not that curious. Your friends probably don’t spend eight hours a day on your house for three months and climb to a cupboard full of your garments (to discover the shutoff for your bathtub ). You could argue that your builder understands you better than your friends. Except for one thing: We are not hoping to get to know you , except as it pertains to our job. So we may be climbing through your cupboard, but we’ve got a job to do, so we’re not wasting time eavesdropping or checking out your letterman jacket. We are going to keep it professional if you do. If you forget to pick up your underwear or empty the ashtray stacked high, we’ll look the other way.
3. We might not really like your idea; we’re just saying we do. We’ve been doing this too long to sweat the small stuff. If it’s what you want and it is not dangerous or a terrible investment, we’re not going to argue the point. There are too many things to discuss to get bogged down by everything. If we just think it’s silly, we’ll get to work anyhow. After all, it is not our house — you’re the person who resides there. If you want our opinion, inquire! We’ll be delighted to share.
Annabelle Herrera Interiors
4. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose (money). The most important thing to some contractor is standing. There’s a lot of risk involved with taking on a building project, and at times things do not go our way. A good builder will not burden you with the knowledge he is losing money on your job if is not your fault — or if it’s your fault but he does not think you can help it. If we bid the job wrong or make costly mistakes, we will continue to do the best job we could and finish the job properly. We’re a patient lot. If you think we’re frustrated, well, we might be. But there’s always the next job, and doing a good job on yours could be what lands us that job.
5. We like you; we just have a lot on our minds. We would not be working for you when we did not like you. There is too much at stake (see point 4) to use folks we do not click with. If we look curt occasionally, we’re probably only obsessed with the details of your job. If we stop chatting so we we can return to work, do not let it hurt your feelings; we just want to get the job done so you’ll like us in the end of the job, also.
Jessica Helgerson Interior Design
6. We might not be a good investment if you don’t love our work. Payback time isn’t always there. Your green roof will reduce your cooling costs and prolong the life span of your roofing, but if you do not find it amazing, it might not be the direction that you want to spend your money. As a general rule, the following person to buy your house will not cover you as much for your kitchen as you paid us to reestablish it. So renovate because it makes your life more comfortable, convenient and lovely, and because you love how remodeling may change a house for the greater. If you look at the raw numbers, you need to insulate the attic, replace the water heater when it breaks and operate those ugly kitchen cabinets to the floor.
The Cousins
7. It’s a hard job, but we love it. There is a reason there’s no Starbucks of custom home remodeling. It’s a difficult job that requires the personal attention of committed individuals who work well together and are willing to take risks to make a good but far from amazing living (see point 9). It’s good to tackle a few DIY jobs yourself to provide you with an idea of the physicality of our job along with the frustrations we encounter. Each house is a fresh set of challenges, which brings our blood, tears and sweat. However, if those challenges result in an attractive and operational project, we can not help but come back for more.
Linda Yowell Architects
8. We’re not rich, but we would not do anything else. If you decide to tackle a massive remodel, then odds are you’ll be surprised at how much it costs. It is going to be more costly than you initially guessed — possibly two or three times as much. When you are writing checks for $20,000 at a time, then you’ll be tempted to believe building can not potentially cost this much and your builder has to be pocketing substantial sums and outfitting the pool cabanas in his or her private island retreat with big-screen TVs. A valid contractor pays huge quantities in overhead costs that are hard to imagine if you have never shopped for liability insurance at a line of work where individuals routinely paychecks blades and guns that take nails. We make enough money to keep us coming back for more, but when it wasn’t fun, we would not take action.
LaGuardia Design Group
9. Ten percentage overhead and 10 percent profit are a myth. Somewhere along the line, the 10 percent amount got into people’s minds. The overhead for a remodel is significantly more than 10 percent. If”profit” meant the money left after paying nonfield staff and owners, that would be excellent, but it does not. Ten percent might be sufficient to cover the aforementioned team members, but it definitely does not leave any profit for carrying on a risky job. Allow the market set the amount of work in your town. If you think the purchase price you were quoted was too large, then get different quotes. If you set requirements for specific percentages, we’ll just shift numbers around. We’re not likely to work at no cost, but we can not charge more than our peers and get away with it for long.
10. We did find money under the floorboards, and we’re not discussing. Well, I never have, but I did hear that the old contractor’s tale about a guy who found $20,000 while working on a house he purchased to flip. The best things I have found were older bottles and fine broad old-growth boards. If your contractor buys a boat and sails off to the Carribean at the center of this job, it is possible that demonstration went really well. Most of the time, however, we’re pretty excited to earn a bookshelf out of the timber we snapped from that wall we knocked down on your place.
More in this series: What to Look for in a Contractor’s Contract