The Do's & Don't Of Building Your Dream Home

Second in a series: How To Organize a Project, Understand Subcontractors, Develop A Construction Schedule And Stay On Track

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Interviewing Contractors

While you are shopping for contractors keep foremost on your mind that they will be working for you. Interview them as you would anyone else who is going to be responsible for getting a task done and being paid to do it. Here are some questions that you should ask; the answers you are expecting to hear will be obvious ones.

1. How long have you been in business as a builder?
2. If pertinent to your locale and jurisdiction: Do you have all the proper credentials, licenses or union affiliations to do this work?
3. Have you ever performed work under another name or as a different corporate entity?
4. How much experience do you have with this particular type of house construction and how many homes have you built or sub-contracted on?
5. Where are these other homes and can you supply references from the people who hired you?
6. How busy are you and will you be working on any other projects at the same time? If so, will those jobs require you to take resources, of any kind, away from this project for its duration? ( Any decent builder will most probably have more than one iron in the fire at a time, so gauge this response carefully. This is a fairly prevalent problem.)
7. If your home's not the only project on their plate at the scheduled time: Who is the job superintendent responsible and are they always on site in a supervisory capacity?
8. Is there any aspect of the work contracted for that you will not be doing and that you will be hiring someone else to do? If so what legal and binding contracts are there and will you allow me to look them over? Then ask them questions 1 through 6 in regard to any subcontractor.
9. If there are subcontractors, who pays them? Does he or do you? If he does must he first wait for you or the bank to make the disbursement? (Usually the bank or the lender can or will handle this aspect. It is usually in their best interests - and yours - to do it this way.)
10. Ask for full contact information and details for any subcontractor that you are certain will be working on your project.
11. Are you a member of the Better Business Bureau or any associations that can be checked with?
12. Who is your banker and can we check with them? Who do you purchase your materials and services from and is your credit good with them?
13. Are you fully insured and protected on all levels for liability, theft and damages? To what levels and can you provide verification of such?
14. Are you bonded for completion of the project in the event that you are unable to satisfy the terms of the contract, for any reason? Have you ever not finished a project?
15. Have you ever had a project that ended up in either an arbitration or litigation? If so, why and what was the outcome?
16. Are you satisfied with the plans, schedules for materials and time frames for this project? If not what do you feel is deficient and what do you consider a normal amount of over-charges that could occur on an average job of this size and cost? What is the most amount of work that you have ever had to do on a T & M basis?
17. If something unforeseen does turn up, what are your charges and fees for time and material jobs (T & M)
18. Once a T & M project is apparent who approves and signs for it?
19. If you either cause a delay, or make a mistake who bears the brunt of the costs to rectify the problem? (Remember the bank will not really care why you are not on schedule or budget. They have a contract with you and it is dependent on the job getting done.)
20. This last and final question is one you need to ask yourself. Do you feel confident with the answers you have been given? Do you have a more than reasonable level of confidence with the person you have just spoken too? Do you like this person? You and he will be working together for quite sometime and you will need to develop a good working rapport with them. If you feel they are being evasive, or lack confidence maybe you need to move onto the next candidate and start the process all over.

In conclusion

It must now be more than apparent to you that this entire process is laden with details and steeped in minutia. Any one aspect of this process, if not diligently performed, can cause your project to grind to a halt, and your hopes and dreams of building a home will then seem like the worst idea you ever had. But if you develop a solid plan, stick to it, ask hard questions and make the correct decisions, you will now be at the point where you can choose a contractor, notify your lender and implement your schedule.

Next in the series: Bricks And Mortar, Hammers And Nails, Getting The House Built On Track

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