Things To Look Out For When Dealing With Contractors?
I'm new to investing and I'm gearing up to buy my first rehab property. I've been educating myself for a little while now, joined my local chapter of REIA, and have talked to some lenders and agents.
I'm getting ready to start talking to contractors now in order to try to select a few I might be interested in working with. I was looking for some advice on things I should be cautious of when the time comes to start getting bids and actually begin my first project.
I plan to use a general contractor and I have no construction experience of my own to fall back on.
ONe thing I will mention right now is that if they are not busy this summer then that could be a warning. THis is the busy time of the year for most contractors. Get references, as local building inspectors etc.
ALso, start reading Buy it, Fix it, sell it & profit by Kevin Myers.[ Edited by Stockpro99 on Date 05/27/2004 ]
Read it already. Great book.
I'm trying to learn as much as I can and this is my current concern. I just want to make sure I reduce my chances of getting scammed as much as possible.
Hmmmmm....good question
Do you have any friends or relatives that have been in the construction business at some time? If so, you could ask them to help you evaluate the estimates you receive from contractors.
Well, I belong to the local REIA chapter so I can ask around there and my HML will also be willing to help me out. I was just wondering if there were any rules of thumb when it comes to things contractors may try and slip by you.
Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree with this question, but I just wanted to check.
I was a rennovation contractor for many years (over 30) and now only work on my own rehab properties. Over those years I have met, worked with, supervised, hired and fired a lot of people, male and female, who called themselves remodeling contractors. My professional opinion is...that 75% of these people should have been doing something else for a living.
There are the ones who can talk a very good game, but when it comes down to proving their worth, their workmanship fails miserably.
They simply don't care enough about the finished product they provide. And the fact that there are SO many of them, only reinforces in their minds, that it isn't such a big deal when they provide shabby results, because more often than not, anyone they might be comparing their work against, is not as good or worse, so they feel justified. Typically, I have found the root of this problem to be either one of 2 things. Greed or an overall lack of ambition/pride. They are most interested in making as much money as they can, as quickly as they can. Or they are unmotivated people who are always looking for ways to short cut things. Either way, it is a problem for anyone that hires them. And it is most often much too long into the project before the "employer/homeowner/investor" finds out.
Then you have what I like to refer to as the
"natural born thieves". They are the ones who can and will look you in the eye, tell you everything you want to hear and then seize any and every opportunity to snake you for every $ they can. And many of them get very creative with their methods. Thank God, these types are a relatively small number, but a problem just the same.
Then you have the ones who are absolutely not qualified to be doing this type of work. They may have worked on jobsites, often as laborers and are exposed to all the different types of this work. They acquire a very limited amount of knowledge from working alonside of others and take that limited knowledge put a sign on a truck and "Viola"...they are contractors. They couldn't tell you the difference between "Low E glass" and a dixie cup. These ones are pretty easy to spot. Generally, within a very short time, you will be able to ascertain that they simply don't know what they are doing. And most everything they do is evidence of that.
Then you have the people who truly know and love their craft, take pride in what they do, continually seek higher education in their fields and strive to do the best they can and in turn make as much as they can. The old fashioned way. "They earn it".
In todays world, if someone doesn't take all the necessary time to research their propective contractors, they will, IMO...get burned 7 out of 10 times! It is a daunting task, but checking referrences (and verifying them) checking their physical work (especially on a project they are currently working on) is essential. Do not accept the statement from them, "I did this work" isn't it nice? as valid. Anyone could have done that work. Go view them, onsite, while they are working to make your assessment of the quality.
Anything short of this, will definitely lead to problems.
Hope this helps
Dave
PS. The above poster was very accurate in his (or hers) statement: If they are not busy working right now, STAY AWAY from them.!
Dave
get refs. try to look at some of there work. have the work that they are going to do put in writing. acquire as much knowledge as you can about the work they are going to do........kenmax
Thanks guys that was helpful. It may seem like common sense, but I probably would not have thought about being suspicous of contractors that were not busy over the summer.