Home & Garden

You’ve finally decided to move forward and remodel your home. Perhaps you’ve invited us into your living room or have cornered us in our sales center. Now what?

As a professional remodeling contractor, we are prepared to answer any questions you have as you make a decision about whether to invest in a home improvement project. But while we encourage and welcome this dialogue, we often find that home owners aren’t typically prepared for that opportunity. In many cases, the questions we get are limited to how much will it cost (or cost per square foot) and whether we can cut a deal.

While those are valid questions, we think they only scratch the surface of what home owners need to know to help ensure a satisfying experience with our company or any professional remodeler.

So here are the top five questions we think home owners should ask when they are on the cusp of a remodeling project…and why they matter:

1. Who will run the job?
   We will assign a site superintendent or “lead” skilled in home remodeling to be your main point of contact from the first day on the job through the final walk through. It is important to know who that is, and how to contact him or her, to get the most accurate and up-to-date information and answer questions about your project. Of course, you can always contact the main office, but your first call should be to your site superintendent. We believe this gives you the best of both worlds; a dedicated supervisor as your day-to-day go to person along with availability from our entire staff in support of you and your remodeling project.
2. Will you show up every day?
   Understanding how we work and the pacing of a typical remodeling project is critical to having a positive experience. In fact, sometimes (if not often), there are very few people on the jobsite, but that doesn’t mean things aren’t progressing. There may be an inspection scheduled or a delivery on the way that will trigger crews and subcontractors to return and continue their work…perhaps even later that day, if not the next morning. We keep a tight schedule and our business depends on being efficient, but there are occasional lulls in the process that we’ll point out when we go over the project schedule with you.
3. How will you deal with construction debris?
   Most (if not all) remodeling projects create their fair share of debris, both from demolition and new construction. We will work with you and your neighbors to find a suitable place for a right-sized dumpster that is convenient for us yet out of the way as best as possible. We’ll empty it when it’s full and take it away as soon as we no longer need it.
4. Can you supply references?
   We are happy to provide you with a list of people who have recently hired us for a remodeling project similar to yours. We encourage you to call them and ask about their experience and level of satisfaction. Any professional remodeler should have references at the ready, including financial partners, trade contractors, materials suppliers, and others we work with that can provide perspective on our professionalism and track record of performance.
5. How do you handle changes?
   Most people don’t ask this question because they can’t envision making a change during a remodeling project, but it happens all the time. We work diligently with you to create a detailed list of specifications for your project before we break ground, but we also have change order policies and procedures in place — which we share with you up front and in the sales contract — to account for changes after the project begins.

Armed with the answers to this handful of questions, we think you’ll be more confident in your remodeling decisions and more likely to be satisfied with the result and the experience.

(Written by Lawson P. Calhoun, Jr. CGP, Calhoun Properties, 4813 Rivercliff Drive Marietta Ga 30067. Visit www.calhounproperties.com for more from Lawson.) 

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