It’s All in the Details – Part 2

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In the first part of this blog we starting talking about how the details of your rehab project are very important and how they can either save you time and money or cost you time and money. In this next segment we’ll cover the second aspect of this topic.

2. You will save money by having your contractors quote your job based on the materials you will be using.
Now, you may be thinking that this is a pretty simple concept, and for the most part it is. Maybe too simple and, therefore, very easily overlooked. It’s very easy to get caught up in the rehab project as a whole. Is the house gutted yet? Has the siding been finished on the exterior, etc. It is very easy to miss the little things, which is a problem, because the little things can still cost you a lot of time and money. The main lesson here is always have your contractors quote your project based on YOUR COMPLETED SCOPE OF WORK! That last sentence is obviously capitalized for a reason. Make sure the quote is based on YOUR scope of work, rather than what the contractor thinks needs to be done or is planning to do. Remember part I of this segment, the project needs to be spelled out for them so that everything is done correctly. And make sure your scope of work is totally COMPLETE. Never leave anything up in the air. Never say for example, “All lighting in house to be updated,” or “Pergo floor to be installed in dining room.” What is wrong with those sentences? They don’t specify what lighting is supposed to be used or what pergo floor is supposed to be used. You may have nice brushed nickel lighting in mind that costs $60 per light and your contractor is quoting you based on imitation gold lighting that he knows he can pick up at the local discount store for $10 a light, and the same goes for the floor. You may walk in to check on the progress of your rehab and find that the contractor has put up these cheap ugly lights. So naturally you tell him “Hey, these are the lights I had in mind” as you hand him the item number from the high end lighting store down the street. He looks at it and says that this will cost you the $50 per light difference and the added labor for removing and reinstalling the correct lights. The simple lesson is that all this could be avoided if your initial scope of work that the quote is based off of is very detailed and gives item numbers and descriptions for everything that is to be used. This way no contractor can argue that you never told him you were using this expensive item or that expensive item, cause if they do you simply whip out the scope of work and show them that it’s been right there in writing from the start. So as you prepare to take on your first or your next rehab project, make sure you pay attention to the details, your bank account will thank you later.