Choosing a Remodeling Contractor

I have lived in my home for 20+ years. When we bought this house it was only 4 yrs old and had been vacant for 2. It was a HUD repossession and the price was unbeatable.

The house was in really good shape. The carpet was spotless, the living room had Hcustom window treatments and the appliances were like-new. We were able to move right in without any modifications. At the time we moved in it was only my husband and myself (and our 2 cats). Up to this point we had lived in apartments or duplexes. This house was huge - 1500 sq ft of living space, 3 bedrooms/2 baths, 3 car garage, open deck in the back, nice young oak trees scattered about our standard size lot. Open living/dining/kitchen and vaulted ceilings.

Then as it always does, life happened. 5 years after we moved in we welcomed our first child. An upstairs bedroom became the nursery and we still had more room than we needed. 2.5 years later child number 2 arrived. So now we lost our only other extra room. But no worries, we still felt like we had a huge living area. As my family grew, so did my culinary skills. The kitchen that had once seemed so big was becoming a little tighter. But it was manageable.

After 10 years we decided it was time to get rid of the carpet, which by now had been not-so-gently worn. So began our first foray into remodeling.

We knew nothing. I had some experience as an estimator for a new home builder but that was it. We blindly began looking for a remodeling contractor and met a new neighbor down the street. He had recently bought a home that was in serious disrepair and did an awesome job restoring it. He had a remodeling business so we decided, hey, it's a neighbor...we have seen his work (on his own house) and the price was really good.

We had real wood floors installed in the downstairs living/dining room, tile in all bathrooms and the kitchen and laundry room. New carpet on the stairs and all bedrooms. Fresh paint and baseboards. And, our deck covered and ceiling fans installed outside. As a surprise my husband also had a tile backsplash installed.

There were a few cosmetics things that we weren't too thrilled with, like the backsplash tile where it met the bottom of the upper cabinets...the contractor obviously didn't have a tile saw so he had nipped the top tiles to fit. They were not smooth even cuts. But, we figured you really couldn't see that unless you were bending down.

A few years later, the wood floor had began to discolor from the Urethane that it was sealed with. So, we decided we needed the floor refinished and also wanted our deck to be screened in ( we live in Texas and the mosquitoes are around 9 of 12 months of the year). So, we looked for a new contractor.

A friend and former co-worker of my husbands had recently been laid off and started his own handyman business. He had worked in facilities for a large manufacturing company so we knew he had experience. And we wanted to help him get his business off the ground.

We had him prepare an estimate and planned to go on vacation for the week he was going to work on the house, as resanding and resealing the floors would take several days and would make the house pretty much uninhabitable. He began working on the deck before we left, he removed the old worn out wood and replaced with Trex decking. He also corrected some of the structural defects with the covered decking that the first contractor had poorly constructed. His workmanship was impressive. He worked long days, by himself, in the Texas summer heat.

When we returned from our vacation we were so happy with our new wood floor. It looked like new! The deck was screened from the ground up to prevent those pesky mosquitoes from coming up from under the deck. Fresh paint on the trim and ceiling. We couldn't wait to sit outside and enjoy our new space.

Then we got the final bill. The cost for resanding and resealing the floor had doubled. It had taken him 2x longer to complete the floor project. The issue - he did not call us (we left him our cell phone numbers) to tell us of the increase. This made for a very uncomfortable discussion. We did not have an extra $5k..and did not feel it was appropriate for him to have gone on with the job without letting us know. It was a learning experience for both of us. We agreed to split the overage and saved the friendship. We continued to refer him to others as his workmanship was more than satisfactory.

3 or so years later, my brother passed away suddenly and we took in his two young boys. Problem was, we had NO room. My brothers death was a tragic event, and our friends rallied around us and helped us convert our garage to a new bedroom for our new boys. We had alot of the materials and labor donated, and were able to negotiate a very good discount on a Morgan Building (we needed somewhere to put all the stuff from the garage). We had few issues, and were not about to complain about any minor things due to the generosity of friends and strangers alike. We now had more room, but my kitchen was now known as a 'one butt kitchen'. More than one person could not work in there at a time.

Last year we decided to bite the bullet and go ahead and have our exterior completely redone. This time, we knew what to look for. We did alot of research online and subscribed to Angie's List. That was probably the best step we took. We found a local contractor, RPM of Austin, and asked them to bid our job. Our first impression was one of comfort and ease. These guys knew their stuff and were very open and honest about what we could do differently to not only save some money but also insure the longevity of the major investment we were about to make.

We asked for Hardiback siding and soffit, repaint all exterior, all new Low-e windows, add glass blocks to a windowless bathroom upstairs, add 1 new window to each upstairs bedroom, add glass blocks to our dark living area, new gutters, replace the existing deck cover, add electrical outlets to the deck, build an outdoor entertainment center inside the deck, rescreen the deck, add hardiback siding around the base of the deck and the Morgan Building.

We got a very detailed estimate and although the price was a little over our budget we decided to contract with RPM of Austin.The feedback on Angie's list was 100% positive and we also got references from RPM of Austin and checked a few of those out. Within 2 weeks they began work at a feverish pace. They worked hard and cleaned up each day before they left.

One day while discussing other possible small jobs the owner, Chad, mentioned that what we needed with a house full of growing boys (4 of them now!) was a bigger kitchen. My husband and he discussed the options and we asked Chad to draw up an estimate. We had another budget we were going to use on some dramatic landscaping but decided mom's happiness in the kitchen was more important. Chad brought us a drawing of the new kitchen layout, it was perfect!

The difference in working with a professional contractor, who had solid references and the backing of Angie's list was like night and day. Any overage was discussed with us first. There were no surprises. We had an update just about every day on where they were with the project. They did go over on the time estimate but part of that was because the work was over Thanksgiving and some suppliers did not have materials on time.  The finished product is more than I could have ever imagined.  They took out a few walls and gave me an open kitchen that was 2x bigger than before.

The other day I was in the kitchen, working at the portable island we had bought.  3 of my 4 boys were in the kitchen with me and my husband remarked "Now, that's a first.  Mom's got someone in the kitchen with her and she's not yelling at them to get out!"  That's what I call success!

So, to recap...in choosing a remodeling contractor:

1) Select an established, professional contractor.  

2) Ask for and follow up on references.

3) Use a third party, such as Angie's List or ServiceMaster, to get additional information and feedback.

4) Get a firm estimate, sign a contract and make sure that any overages are to be approved prior to additional work or materials are applied.

5) Share your experience with others.  

6) Enjoy your finished project.