Home Remodeling Basics and Your 4 Options for Finding the Right Person for the Job
First, you can hire a designer and a general contractor to handle your entire remodeling. This means professionals will do all the work for you. Of course you don’t just leave town until the job is finished. You are the owner and principle decision maker. You’ll need to be available to answer questions and solve problems as they arise. While this option may be the easiest for you, it is also the most expensive as you might have guessed.
Second, you can hire a general contractor but do some of the work yourself. Perhaps the contractor will build the shell and close in your new addition; you will finish the interior. Or you may concentrate your efforts in areas that require relatively unskilled labor, such as demolition and site preparation. This is a good option if you have some skills and interest in do-it-yourself work, but neither the time nor the experience to take on much responsibility.
The third option you can do is act as your own general contractor and hire and coordinate the necessary subcontractors. In this way you save the general contractor’s fee, which may be 15 to 20 percent of the job. Acting as your own general contractor requires a lot of organization, time, patience, knowledge of which people to hire, and the ability to deal with them. You may need to provide workers’ compensation insurance for the people you employ. Check on this with your insurance agent or the State Compensation Insurance Fund in your area.
Lastly you can also do it all yourself or with nonprofessional help. You are the designer, the skilled and unskilled laborer, the one who does it all from start to finish. You may find pleasure and satisfaction in the work itself. Or your decision may be based primarily on economics. If you can afford to invest your time, doing all the work yourself can be the least expensive option. And don’t overlook the possibility of trading skills with friends or neighbors who have more remodeling experience than you do or who are willing to lend a pair of hands and a strong back to your project. Does your friend need an occasional babysitter so she can spend more time in her carpentry workshop? The American tradition of barn raising is still active in many parts of the country. If you can do all the planning and preparation, the actual work can go quickly and smoothly with volunteer labor. And it’s fun besides.
Which option is best for you depends on a number of factors. If you’re at all uncertain, it’s a good idea to talk to several contractors and designers before you decide. Then you will have a better picture of the skills they offer. Next you should assess your own abilities. Have you thought seriously about how much of the work you can do yourself?
This is no time for false bravado. You need a frank, objective appraisal of your abilities and skills. Otherwise you’re only asking for trouble later on. Be realistic. You may be better off hiring professionals to do the job for you. And there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, some codes require electrical and plumbing work, for example, to be done by a licensed professional.
But don’t sell yourself short because you lack extensive experience. If you have some skills already, following simple how-to instructions you dig will most definitely suffice. Perhaps you should handle some small projects first to gain experience and find out if you really enjoy this type of work. You should consider other factors as well when making your decision:
Is the job too technical? For example, does your remodeling include complicated plumbing and heating installations? Will the work be visible, and does it require skilled craftsmanship? Even though you may know how to do a job, can you do it well? Some skills take years to perfect. If the project requires sophisticated engineering, the services of an architect at the beginning can save you time, trouble, and frustration later.
Next think to yourself, does the job require special equipment? You can buy used tools at garage sales or flea markets. Or you can rent special tools for a weekend or more. But hiring a professional with the right tools may be less expensive than buying new tools that you will never use again.
What about determining whether time is a factor or not? Is there a tight deadline to meet or the threat of bad weather? Can you live with the mess and fatigue that always seem to accompany do-it-yourself projects? Do you have the time to spare? Remodeling projects have been known to drag on for years, when the homeowner can only work on weekends.
Probably most importantly, is it worth it economically for you to do the work yourself? Get out your calculator to figure this. Instead of taking four weeks of vacation and working at home, consider staying at your job and hiring a professional to handle the remodeling. Depending on the size of your project and your salary, you may earn enough in those three weeks to pay for much of it.
Of course no dollar figure can be placed on the satisfaction of tackling a difficult job and completing it successfully. The best way to raise your level of expertise is by hands-on experience. If you start by doing all or most of a small job yourself, just to learn how to do it, you can then move on to a harder task. And if you tackle more than you can handle, you can always call for help. If you get rough estimates from contractors, you may be able to use them to figure how much you can save, or you might wait until you have firm bids. Separate the cost of materials from the labor. Estimate how many hours the job will require for a professional and then multiply in a handicap factor if you do it yourself. For example, if a professional takes ten hours to do the job, multiply this by 2 or even 3 times for you to do the job. Then figure the hourly rate you’ll be paying yourself for doing the work. Is it worth it?
Of paramount importance is asking oneself if the project too risky or strenuous. Are you physically able to handle the work? Your health is invaluable, and as such, don’t jeopardize it needlessly. Only you can assess the situation most accurately because it is your body and your vision of the project.
