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Hiring A General Contractor For Your Home Decoration Project Article
12. Hiring a general contractor for your home decoration project
from:Remodeling your home or decorating it required a fair amount of work, all the way from internal structural woodwork and plastering to plumbing and electrical work. You need to be aware of the amount of work and the disruption the work would cause at home before you confirm a contractor. The work may even involve your moving out of your home for a period of time and you should be prepared to handle that.
Locating a general contractor
A general contractor would be a person who works with other professionals (subcontractors) in a team to handle and carry out any and all construction and home decoration projects. Some contractors may be limited by the size of the project they can handle within a specific cost and time scale. Locating a good general contractor in whom you can place your trust can be a daunting task and you’d be best off asking around with friends and colleagues, for references if they have any. Failing this, the next best option is to contact your local hardware store, who may be able to help you out with a list of the best contractors that they’ve dealt with. Otherwise the yellow pages are a good source to come up with a list of general contractors.
Check references
Reach each of the contractors and ask them for their pricing structure, references and if they have any ongoing projects that you may visit to check the quality of work. Call up the references of at least five of the contractors whom you felt most comfortable speaking with (don’t limit yourself to this however if you have the patience) and enquire into their effectiveness, cost and about any issues dealing with them.
Quotations
Call in at least three of the contractors so that you can have in hand competing quotations for the job. The quotations would cover labor, materials and possibly a buffer cost for any extras. Based on your research, evaluate the quotations and decide on a contractor. You ought to call back contractors you think deserve a chance and ask them for a revised quotation. Go with the contractor with the best references and the cheapest cost (the two may not coincide so you’ll have to come to some sort of average, most likely based on how you feel about working with the particular contractor). If possible, before confirming the contract, go to a site where work is being carried out and see how things are going there.
Getting the decoration work done
Ask the contractor to draw up a contract mentioning the costs of the job and the services to be rendered. Study the contract before going ahead and signing it. The contract would mention dates between the work would be accomplished so, make your personal arrangement accordingly.