As a professional General Contractor in the Naperville IL area, I always get the following questions.
Can I supply my own materials for my remodeling projects?
Answer: You sure can ask your contractor to supply your own materials which will save you money. However, it would be best if you considered the following:
What if you have a problem with a faucet that you bought? You would have to pay the contractor again to replace it as the contractor is not responsible for the items that you buy.
What if the kitchen cabinets that you bought on your own do not perfectly fit or have some issues? You have to deal with replacing them and maybe the contractor would leave your job to start another job while you get a replacement cabinet. That would delay the project by a few weeks!
What if you have any leaks or issues a few months down the road after your project was completed? The Contractor will not be able to fix the leak or replace items free of charge if you supply your own materials. That is assuming that the issue/leak is due to a defective material and not an installation issue.
So, there is a financial reward if you buy your own materials but you are taking a risk. I have customers who bought faucets, cabinets, and other materials online and after the item was received and installed, we discovered that it was defective and had to be replaced. Of course, we replaced it free of charge for the customer but other contractors won’t do that!
Should I hire a General Contractor or hire individual contractors for my home remodeling project?
Answer: If you are looking to save money and manage the project yourself, then hire individual contractors. If you do not have the time and you cannot handle construction headaches, then hiring a General Contractor would be a piece of great advice. Keep in mind that if you hire individual contractors, you would need to coordinate timing and deal with each contractor on your own. The most pain would come if anything goes wrong then each contractor would blame the other for the problem and you would get stuck in the middle pulling your hair out!
Hiring a General Contractor might save your hair but it will cost you a little more money.
Can I remodel my kitchen without refinishing the hardwood flooring in the kitchen?
Answer: I highly recommend that you refinish the hardwood flooring as part of the kitchen remodel. New cabinets may and most likely will never cover the same area as the old cabinets which means that you will see the exposed un-finished hardwood after the new cabinets are installed. Also, installing new cabinets on old flooring would make the final finished project look bad.
Can I just remodel part of the bathroom like the shower area or just the tile and leave the rest?
Answer: I think that is a waste of money. You either do the entire bathroom or leave it alone unless you are trying to fix a leak or an issue with the bathroom. If your intention is to update the bathroom, then do the entire bathroom. It is a great idea for resale when the time comes to sell the house. You can not sell the house and claim “remodeled bathrooms” unless the entire bathroom is new and not just a new vanity or a shower!
Should I spend my money on custom-made kitchen cabinets?
Answer: I would say, it depends! If you have extra money to spend and you are looking for something specially made for your house, then yes. If you would like to remodel your kitchen without spending so much money, then the standard cabinets will be more than enough. I have personally installed beautiful standard cabinets in my house and we love them. Our standard cabinets are made from real wood with tough plywood construction. They come with soft-closing doors and drawers along with dovetail drawers. No cheap particle boards!
Should I ask the contractor for references?
Answer: I would say that asking for references is so 1970s. Everything you need to know about any contractor is right there online with the power of Google, Yelp, BBB…etc…etc.
Asking for references in my opinion does not make any sense whatsoever. Let me ask you this, if you apply for a job and they ask you for references, would you give the prospective employer a reference that would say anything negative about you???? The same thing with Contractors. Let us assume that a Contractor has 100 customers and ONLY 10 of them are happy with him, then that Contractor would only give you those 10 happy customers out of the 100 he worked for.
I would recommend doing your homework before hiring anyone!
