Should a contractor notify the homeowner about unexpected cost?
HU-373554379
3 years ago
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jck910
3 years agobry911
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoRelated Discussions
What is 'cost' to the homeowner
Comments (14)I don't know how your contracts are speced, nor what the suppliers do in your area, however i will share my experience. my brother in law is my acting GC. When we ordered the windows for our house we went to the window place with him. they gave him 2 invoices. one with the prices at what he paid, one at higher. This is standard procedure for the window place. Both were less than retail. He isn't a builder, but normally he just factors the amount paid into his bid, he doesn't really do cost plus work. the funny thing was that I sent the window order to a different store from the same place, my quote was 12k, he said, he's worked with Bob in store X a lot and he's going to get "his" prices for the windows. Bob gave him a builder price of 14K with a consumer price of 19k. at that point, we went line by line with Bob to get to the final price which was around 12k. my point really is that the fact that you have a supplier invoice doesn't mean its what the builder paid....See MoreUnexpected costs on tile installation - relevant? Justifiable?
Comments (6)Thanks Worthy, appreciate the info. With the chipped tile - we don't think it was their fault, but rather something natural accommodated for in ordering an additional 10-20% of tiles. But the tiles in the garage AREN'T chipped, so we wonder why the chipped ones were used? As we live with this tile, how easy is it going to be for us to chip it? I mean, that's one of the reasons we went with porcelain over slate was (what the tile shops told us) durability... Also - they grouted Friday, coming to seal tomorrow. Will the grout be sufficiently dry by now? We are a little concerned about the color of the grout as it is quite varied, even in a single tile edge - the variation is from almost white-ish gray to med brown (what we choose). We thought it was still drying... but it will be sealed in less than 24 hours! Thanks!...See MoreHomeowner acting as our own General Contractor for a 750sf add?
Comments (10)I am not in the building trades, I am organized and detail oriented by nature and I am not afraid to ask questions. I consider myself to be pretty intelligent, too. I GC'd a project which involved completely reconfiguring 1/2 of the main floor of our home. We moved our kitchen to another spot in our house which involved knocking out an original exterior brick wall, changing headers, plumbing, electric, adding/changing windows etc etc. I did this while working a full-time job outside of the home, but it's a job that offerred me the flexibility to be at home as needed. In our planning for this project, we interviewed at least 5 GCs or subs for each part of the job. Each gave me different tips of things to look out for/plan for. I asked questions about how their piece would fit into the overall project. Once we decided that I would GC, and the project got underway, I pretty much knew what would come next and planned for it. As it turned out, during the 3 month project, we had only 1 week of downtime because the brick wall removal and header concerns involved an unexpected visit from a structural engineer which we didn't expect. I figure we saved 35-40% on our project. To us, that is very significant. Your comments are confusing. One minute you say you have great licensed subs and the next you say you don't trust them. Which is it? You also sound like you don't have faith in your own abilities. If you do your homework, you can also work with your local building department and inspectors to get what they can offer. If you've been involved in your last projects, give yourself more credit than you appear to be doing. GC'ing is very detail oriented but homeowner's can do it....See MoreThe age old question - Should contractors be paid for a lunch break?
Comments (122)jelly, I can't really tell you anything about the rules for pulling permits. I am not sure if the building department requires you to show up for your permits or if you can send an authorized representative. Essentially, a Construction Manager has a limited power of attorney, so he is authorized to take actions in the homeowner's name, but whether the building department would allow this at all is something I can't answer. I am not even sure they care about the difference between a G.C. and a C.M., in the end construction is being overseen by someone qualified to do so. Furthermore, I am not even sure if they are legally different jobs. It is essentially just a contractually created differentiation. In reality the wording of the contract creates different rights and responsibilities, other than that there may be no distinction between the two. It might be easier to think of it as a third type of construction contract. General contractors can offer "fixed price" contracts, "cost plus" contracts or "Construction Manager" contracts. Again, I really am not sure how some of the legalities work. I know a little bit about agents and their fiduciary responsibilities because I am one. I have a little experience with construction projects, but I am by no means an expert on either. I was more or less trying to keep the OP from making a costly mistake by presenting him with another possibility....See MoreHU-373554379
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3 years agoBeth H. :
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoWestCoast Hopeful
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