Fees for working with a designer/GC?

10 years ago

I'm planning to do a master bath and kitchen remodel, but have very little experience hiring and working with contractors. A friend of a friend has been working with me to come up with possible designs. She is a designer, but said she would also work as my GC. She would hire the subs and be responsible for them, and I would pay the subs directly.

So far, we have spent several hours together on a few different occasions talking about what could be done and what materials I wanted. She gave me a basic sketch on graph paper of a possible kitchen floorplan, and said that the cabinet maker would give me a more detailed CAD drawing when we hired him.

She has offered to let me pay her by the hour ($50), or sign a contract and her fee would be 15% of the total price. Do these numbers seem to be in the ballpark based on what she would be doing?

As an aside, I really like her personally and trust her opinions. However, I don't feel confident that she will try very hard to stay within my budget. But, I'm not willing to go over it and have told her several times.

Sorry, but I'm just very nervous about starting in on this! I know there are many things I don't know. Reading this forum has really helped, but I don't have many people in real life to turn to for answers. Any advice is welcome!

Comments (6)

PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
10 years ago
If she has developed a good working relationship with subs, she will be worth $50.00 per hour and 15%. Her fees seem very reasonable.
User
10 years ago
You are going to pay the subs, which technically means that YOU are the GC on the job and she is just acting as your supervisor and you own all of the problems. What type of credentials does she have? Is she a graduate of a design program and ASID member? NKBA certified? Anything? Is she actually licensed and insured as a GC? Sorry but I get some ''unaccredied decorator'' warning bells here.
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Contractors who are generally honest will occasionally not get permits at the homeowners' request, because the homeowners do not want to fix something which they know isn't up to code. Any contractor who suggests not having permits is violating the law, ethics, and licensing of his profession. All you owe him is a call thanking him for his bid and saying that you've decided to go in a different direction. Do not engage. Do not offer money. Do not explain. If he's such a talker you're scared you'll be sucked in, send it as a letter. Just one sentence saying you're not going to hire him (politely). Don't commit anything else to paper that someone can construe to mean something you didn't mean to say. Close it with "Sincerely". It's not necessarily true that you owe him nothing without a written contract, but if you're still in the bidding process, proven by the fact that you don't even have a proposal yet, you certainly only owe him for what you've agreed to pay for. (A sense opinion; I'm not a lawyer.) Some designers, for instance, charge a fee for the proposal, which you agree to ahead of time, and which you owe if you cancel after they've had a chance to start work and before you receive the proposal. If you didn't agree to a fee ahead of time, you owe nothing. All people who do this kind of work expect to only get a certain percentage of the jobs. If he had ordered cabinets it would show that he thought you had an agreement, and you might owe, depending on the rest of the circumstances (i.e., whether he clearly jumped the gun, or whether you gave him reason to think you wanted him to start work). Ask around. Someone might have cancelled at the last minute (for personal reasons) on the best GC around. You might be able to slot into his Summer schedule.
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boots23
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks Trebruchet. She does seem to have good relationships with subs. The two I've met so far are a cabinet maker and plumber. Both were on time, courteous, and listened to me.

Hollysprings, I'm pretty sure she is a registered designer, but I don't know her accreditations. I'll ask her though. She showed me a picture of a recent remodel she did, but I haven't talked to the homeowner. She also told me she has acted as contractor on three houses she has built and sold.

Like I said, we are planning a bath and kitchen remodel. I feel pretty good about the bathroom plans, but I'm not 100% ready to go ahead with the kitchen. She wants to do both at the same time. I understand that it would be less expensive that way (dumpster rental, same subs), but do you think it would be a good idea to go ahead with the bath to see how that goes? It would also give me more time to decide on how extensive of a remodel I want to do in the kitchen.
sjhockeyfan325
10 years ago
You are going to pay the subs, which technically means that YOU are the GC on the job and she is just acting as your supervisor and you own all of the problems.

Legally-speaking, if the contractor hires the subs and enters into contracts with them, the prime contract can specify that the homeowner write checks directly to the subs to avoid lien issues, without the homeowner assuming all of the risks normally assumed by the GC.
OldTimeCarpenter1
10 years ago
If you friend has experience as a general contractor, then you might consider it, but if not then the most likely result is a major disaster.
renovator8
10 years ago
What would be the advantage of paying the subs directly other than assuring the owner that the subs are paid?

Assuming the designer is a licensed and insured contractor, (if not, find one) it would be best to write the checks to both the GC and the sub contractor. That way the contractor retains responsibility for the performance of the work and the owner is assured that the subs are paid.

Get all of this in a properly written owner-contractor agreement.

Fees for working with a designer/GC?

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Fees for working with a designer/GC?

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