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+--- Thread: Being your own General Contractor: Advice please (/showthread.php?tid=188365)
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Being your own General Contractor: Advice please - pRICE cUBE - 02-23-2016
Looking to help the folks redo their kitchen and adjoining dining and living rooms to create one large open room. Also might redo the bathroom. We have a few estimates and they all seem high to me. Of course it is in my nature to question the numbers as I am a deal seeker.
On a scale of skill I would rate myself as a 3 or 4 out of 10 (10 being most competent) when it comes to home improvement. I have no electrical skills. I did lay some time tile once and was part of a team that put up drywall.
This project would probably include tiling, possibly adding wooden flooring, taking down a wall or two, rewiring electrical, kitchen appliance additions, cabinet install, and plumbing. I know I do not have the skill level to do all this. Could I be the general contractor and hire people to work the trickier parts? I am being delusional or is this a good idea? Money well saved or headaches galore?
Any thoughts, warning, and help appreciated.
Re: Being your own General Contractor: Advice please - mattkime - 02-23-2016
if you're asking this publicly then the answer is likely 'no'.
Re: Being your own General Contractor: Advice please - sekker - 02-23-2016
mattkime wrote:
if you're asking this publicly then the answer is likely 'no'.
Yep.
I will say that removing a similar wall in our older house made a HUGE difference. But we had a terrific person do this that was fair in price and excellent in quality.
Re: Being your own General Contractor: Advice please - space-time - 02-23-2016
I ask myself the same question sometimes.
I learned that prices vary A LOT. for example, I want to rewire 2 switches (I posted about this), and I think I could do some of the work myself, but I never cut and patched drywall, and I want to make sure I don't break any local electrical code, so I decided to hire a pro.
one guy gave us an estimate over the phone. One day eventually he came to have a look, we discussed into details what we have to do, and he committed to the original estimate of $400 + tax. But he as very busy and said he can't do it right away. Fine, we can wait.
I called him for the past few days and I could not reach him. Today an electrician showed up to do some work at my neighbor, and I asked him to come in and give me a quote. $1300. No kidding.
Luckily I was able to reach the first guy this afternoon and he comes on Thursday to do this job for $400.
Moral of the story is that you need to get more quotes, and also keep in mind that if you hire some guys to do only the smaller and trickier jobs, they might charge you more (per hour) than if you were contracting them for a larger job.
Re: Being your own General Contractor: Advice please - Ombligo - 02-23-2016
Your a deal searcher, I understand and appreciate that - but in remodeling sometimes that best deal isn't the best deal. Get a professional and learn to trust.
Re: Being your own General Contractor: Advice please - josntme - 02-23-2016
Get three bids. If they all are in the same ballpark then pick the most reliable one. If one is a really low bidder be suspect. Don't give the the full $ amount until the work is to your (and the inspectors) satisfaction. They can bill you for work done (or draws in contractor lingo).
If you are getting a home improvement loan, most banks won't do it without a general contractor.
In a past life I was in this business.
Re: Being your own General Contractor: Advice please - pRICE cUBE - 02-23-2016
I don't want to go cheap on the actual workmanship. I am leaning more toward hiring people for the parts I can't do and trying to handle the parts I can do to save money.
Re: Being your own General Contractor: Advice please - iamrfixit - 02-23-2016
As a general contractor you need to understand not only the scheduling and order of work but also how and why things need to be done, proper technique and workmanship. The finish that you can see is no more important than what lies underneath. There are right and wrong ways to do every task, with construction work there is almost every level in between. Everything from outdated methods to inferior products, the only way to know much of this is by years of experience. Some of these decisions are based on opinion, but your going to need the experience to be able to actually have one.
Some methods and products work better than others and not all contractors are willing to go the extra mile to be certain that things get done right. Others just don't care enough, they get it done, make it look right and get paid. If the underlying work is shoddy and you didn't know that, the pretty lipstick and mascara coating is not going to hold up. This is where the general must take charge, oversee and sometimes overrule his hired contractors.
Your general contractor really needs experience in most every aspect of the entire project. If you are unable to be on site every day, oversee the project start to finish and lay out how and when (and sometimes why) you want things done then you probably need a general contractor.
Re: Being your own General Contractor: Advice please - Paul F. - 02-23-2016
Absolutely, positively, definitely - DO IT!
Unless you can't live without the space for a couple months... Because when you're running the whole show, sometimes you run into delays.
Just doing the necessary 'tear out' work can save you a lot.
So can doing the drywall after the electrician and plumber are done, and before the cabinet guys come.
Planning; getting all the materials together, lining up the contractors you need for the parts you can't do, etc is the hard part.
By the way, most of the basic electrical stuff is pretty easy to do yourself. That doesn't get you "clear" when it comes to local building codes and inspection, but if you're just moving an outlet or lightswitch... Well... It's not hard to do right.
Re: Being your own General Contractor: Advice please - MikeF - 02-23-2016
If you plan on changing the structure (removal of walls), I would suspect you need to have plans submitted to the local authority to be approved prior to getting a permit. Even electrical/plumbing updates would probably require a permit. And those will require inspections. In our city, if the homeowner pulls the permit, the homeowner is required to do a certain portion of the work. I wouldn't recommend removing walls unless you're absolutely certain that they are not load-bearing or the load is distributed elsewhere... Granted, a homeowner can do it, but in the long run, it's just easier to go with a contractor -- but you can opt to do certain jobs if he's willing to let you to save money (demo, finish electrical, plumbing, insulation, etc.)...
All the time I have required work to be done, the most qualified people who have given estimates (meaning the ones, that to me, seemed to know the most), have all had the lowest prices. The estimates from those contractors that didn't seem to know as much as I did were all higher...