In our area, judges (usually put together by the Home Builders Association) vote.

You contractor should pay for the professional cleaning of your home for before/after the open house. He should also provide sufficient staff to be there during the open house so that you don't have to be. This includes preventing folks from going into other parts of your home. Typically, they should also spruce up the curb appeal for you.

Most importantly, ask him about insurance liability. Do you have an umbrella policy on your home?

Another thing is ample parking. Around here, the contractor will protect the lawns of neighbors by putting up temporary plastic poles and rope off yards so that folks don't park in the wrong places.

Finally, if there is any damage to your neighbor's property or your property, he needs to cover the cost to repair it to the original condition or better.

Hope this is helpful.

personally, if this was my home and it was already occupied, I would not want the public touring it. But that's just me. I am a private person and I paid for the kitchen. If the contractor wants to show it off, He is basically using the kitchen that I paid for to get some free advertising. Not going to happen without some serious compensation. If the home was unoccupied, then it's a little different story.

I'm with ccoombs, I wouldn't want people trotting through my house or causing my neighborhood distress. If the contractor wants to show off the kitchen, give him a CD full of pictures. That's what I did for my GC, and he's been very appreciative.

DonnaR/CA

wonbyherwits has good points. I would only add that any sentimental/valuable items be removed from the home during the tour.

I'm a private person, but would jump at the chance to have our home included on the local kitchen tour, which is sponsored by the medical auxillary. Having been on the tour is a tremendous selling point around here, and we will be on the market sooner rather than later. I can think of several instances offhand where visitors walked in, fell in love with the kitchen and gave the owner an offer he couldn't refuse!

I think it's flattering to be included. I agree about hiding the valuables and I guess I'd hang around just to make sure people don't wander into other parts of the house. Who cares if it disrupts the neighborhood a little - but I guess that's just me!

Not a contest but I have been on a kitchen tour that was a fund raiser. Many homes had the owner present and some had a snack or/or beverage. (homemade cookies, tea etc) Everyone was limited to the kits either by monitors, roped off areas or signs. Everyone we saw respected this. There were a lot of tickets sold but you were given a map when you purchased the ticket and you went on your own. One house ended up with quite a few people but for the most part there were usually only a couple others at each one so I doubt any neighbors could complain.

DH (yes, I dragged him along) and I went on a kitchen tour last spring. After commenting that our kitchen was nicer than any of them, he told me to not even think of putting ours in one. Even though people removed their shoes, it was amazing how absolutely filthy the houses, especially near the entrances, were. In one house there was an oriental rug completely covered in sand.

I also don't like the idea of people I don't know checking out my house. Call me paranoid.

I've been on kitchen tours (not for voting) and at those events, there were volunteers around to make sure folks were taking off shoes, not going elsewhere in the house, etc.

I always think how generous and open those folks are to open their homes as personally if it were me I would not want the public in my house. I'm paranoid people would be casing it out for future reference but that's just me. Most likely not, but that would be on my mind. I don't think it's a huge disruption to the neighborhood. In our part of town, the areas that have kitchen tours are thought of as the high end parts of town so I think it's kind of prestigious.

I haven't had my kitchen on tour, but have had my garden on a garden tour twice. It's a heck of a lot of work- though I assume a kitchen would be way less work. And I would NEVER not be here.

For an interior visit, I would have someone at door getting visitors to remove shoes, I would put (perhaps contractor can pay for) an inexpensive mat at front door/entry, and even have mats/runners on floors leading up to kitchen. Make sure rest of home is blocked/roped off. You or your volunteer can't be everywhere at once, you do have to go to the bathroom occasionally, etc. Put ANYTHING of value/$ or sentimental out of sight, and preferably away in a locked room.

I found it very flattering to be on a tour/contest. If you like to share your home, go for it. Also, decide ahead of time if you are going to let the public use your washroom.

I would be delighted that my contractor was that pleased with the way my kitchen turned out. We got to be good friends while he was virtually living with us, so I would be happy to do it if it would help him out. When I hire a contractor or tradesman I like to see work he has done and talk to former customers. I know his future customers would appreciate seeing what he did for me. My contractor paid me the best compliment -- he wanted to bring his wife by to see the kitchen!

I want to help him out by letting him do this becuase he was overbooked for a long time and then suddenly *poof* everything dried up in 2008. The whole stock market + inflation + house prices + threat of recession stuff going on now I think has a lot of people deciding not to do any remodels and such. I also feel kinda bad becuase I had another project for him but our kitchen project got bigger and bigger and I ran out of funds for the 2nd project (replacing our beatup brick patio with a deck).

Thanks for the notes about getting dirty, rope off etc. I will raise these concerns to the contractor. We have absolutely tons of room for parking and the neighborhood "disruption" is not a big deal at all. Also we remodeled the downstairs so it should be easy to keep people out of the upstairs.

Maybe I can get some stuff like pressure washing the exterior and the driveway for free out of the deal. My front door is also nasty, I know he wouldn't do that for free but maybe something can be worked out.

catbird, my contractor wants to bring his wife by to see my home theater - what does that say LOL (he did not build home theater, I did) Actually all it says is he wants to convince his wife to let him buy new toys I think :)

We participated in a kitchen tour just after ours was completed - it was a fundraiser for the NICU in a local hospital (where I sometimes work), which is the only reason I agreed to do it! We were told NOT to be home during the tour, but I trusted the volunteer staff to keep an eye on things. They were stationed at the front door, and posted in several places inside, directing traffic to the correct place. Visitors either took off their shoes at the door, or put on disposable booties, so dirt was not an issue. The flow of traffic from room to room was clearly marked, and the adjacent rooms were roped off. A local upscale housewares company set my dining room table with stunning crystal and china (no, I didn't get to keep it!) My house never looked so good! It was fairly stressful, because I changed my dining room light fixture at the last minute (something I had been meaning to do for quite some time), and thoroughly cleaned up the whole place, inside and out, ahead of time. I removed all pictures of family and identifying information from view, so it felt more anonymous. Yes, I still felt a little vulnerable letting strangers into my home, but it was a trust thing. I was very flattered to be asked. Tickets were pricey enough that only people really interested in houses/kitchens came through - not the casual/curious tag sale crowd. It was not judged, but we got really nice compliments and feedback (reported to us by the volunteers who were stationed at my house). Most people just looked and didn't touch, but some opened cabinets/closets, etc. like they were buying a house, so I suggest you clean the inside of your cabinets, too!

On the tour I went on there were at least 4 people in each house. One or two people at the front door, one person at the exit, at least one in the kitchen, and then a person anywhere someone might go off the beaten path. One large house had about 7 people in it.

I would totally do it. I think it is a huge compliment. We opened for Historic Garden Week in Virginia (house I grew up in) and it was so cool. My Mom, sister and I were all in different rooms and we talked about various parts of the house, history, furnishings, decisions made etc. I had a lot of fun. I think there was a volunteer in every open room and other rooms were closed off -- WARNING THOUGH people "just wanted to peek" in those rooms too. I don't think they did any clean up they just came the day before and did arrangements for each room.

FYI my contractor volunteered free labor and $300-$400 free parts for "finishing touches" in the parts of the house that were not remodeled but the people will see. For example front door hardware, changing some lighting and cleanup things like pressure washing the driveway.

Also they are sending out a photographer this saturday as they need photos for the entry / promotional materials etc.

Pretty cool deal for me I think!

Whereas I personally would not wish to participate in a contest (a tour, yes), I think it is very flattering that your contractor asked you to consider it so congratulations on a job well done. My contractor asked if he could take pictures of my finished kitchen for use in his office. I said yes because his work was excellent and he was a nice person to work with. Last week I was in his office reviewing plans for an attic remodel and sure enough, on his brag wall, there was a picture of my kitchen. It gave me a nice feeling.

I say "go for it" and congratulations on being asked... We were on a Historic House Christmas Walk last year and it was a lot of fun. (of course it was a lot of work too since I decided that no fewer than 8 full size trees would be acceptable :)

I also know that I'd love to go on a KITCHEN open house tour... i've not been on one, but I think it would be helpful in my planning!

beth

Wow!

Lucky you!

I'd go for it in a heartbeat with those added incentives!

Let us know how it goes- and post some pics!

I say go for it too! And I want to see pics so I can have a "virtual tour" no footprints! I've been on many of these tours and they are usually really well staffed and taken care of. The suggestions about checking liability, etc are good ones and I'd definitely expect some compensation in some form or another from your contractor for this very visible free advertising.

There is an annual Kitchen Tour in our area that is a fundraiser, and my family swears I look more forward to it than Christmas and my birthday combined! DH & I have been making a day of it for the past 6 years.
As noted above, ours always has a group of volunteers who are vigilant about making sure people have tickets, shoes are taken off/or booties are on, and other areas of the house are cordoned off.
I am always grateful to the folks who are kind enough to offer up their homes for touring. I think most people show a lot of respect for the properties on view.

Congratulations & Good Luck!