Every relationship has roles, and as someone looking to renovate your home, it’s important to know your role when it comes to building a good relationship with your contractor.
Keeping a good relationship with your contractor is important for two main self-explanatory reasons:
1. A better relationship gets you a better product. Your contractor won’t rush the job trying to escape you.
2. You want your contractor to honor any warranties in the future and that can’t happen if you’ve made your way to the block list.
First things first when working with a contractor during your rehab process…
BE OPEN-MINDED TO NEW IDEAS
In my last post, I taught you how to find a good contractor and if you followed the steps I gave, you should have no problem respecting and trusting your contractor’s opinion when it comes to what’s best for your project. Listen and take heed to any suggestions that may come your way. Your contractor is the professional, not you, and if you’re not able to trust their opinion then you did not do your due diligence when hiring them.
The blatant truth is if you knew how to do your own renovations you probably would not have hired a contractor in the first place, so again, be open-minded to new ideas.
HAVE A PROJECT SCHEDULE
After hiring your contractor, it is important that the two of you create a project schedule. Your project schedule should be created before the project begins and should cover the entire process from start to finish.
Your project schedule should cover payments, inspections, and deadlines.
LET THE WORKERS WORK
You created a project schedule for a reason so there is no need for you to hover or bombard your contractor or their employees while they are working. Stressing yourself out and the contractor won’t make your project go by any quicker or smoother, so try to relax and trust the process. There’s no need to babysit the professionals.
DON’T BE AFRAID TO ASK QUESTIONS
You’re paying someone to do a job, so feel free to gain as much knowledge as possible as long as you LET THE WORKERS WORK.
Throughout 15 years of experience working with contractors and 10 years of being a contractor, I can say that these steps can take you a long way in maintaining a headache-free relationship with your project manager and contractor.
If you have any questions or would like to share tips of your own feel free to leave a comment below!