When you hire a general contractor for a home remodeling project, there are rules – site politics if you will – that you must follow in order to get to the finish line on time, within budget and without dispute.

You have your team – your spouse, your nosey neighbor, your nephew who is going to architecture school, and your best friends – all of whom are quite willing to share their unfounded opinions without hesitation.

Your general contractor has his team – the plumber, the electrician, all the other subcontractors, and perhaps a superintendent – all of whom have a particular job to do, but don’t have the responsibility for coordinating the project or for insuring or warranting it.

Since you and the contractor were the only parties to sign the construction contract, you are the only parties who ought to be talking to each other. Team captain talks to team captain. If you break ranks and talk to the plumber, here’s what could happen:

Mrs. H. had been a school teacher all her life and was now two years from retirement. She borrowed money from the bank while she still had a good income, to make major repairs on her 1970s brick ranch, and to remodel her kitchen, which was still mostly avocado green.

One sunny morning, the plumber approached Mrs. H. with a great idea. If she would pay him $300 cash, he’d move her water heater from the closet in the kitchen to a location in the crawlspace under her house, and she could then use that closet as a pantry.

What a GREAT idea! Unfortunately it was illegal. The project flunked it’s plumbing inspection. The general contractor fired the plumber for being unethical. Mrs. H. had to wait five weeks for the general contractor to find another plumber who was qualified, available and willing to finish another (bad) plumber’s work and warrant it, and he charged her a premium for taking that risk. Talking directly to the plumber cost Mrs. H. five weeks of delay (while her house was all torn up) and $1,500 more than she had in her loan.

What she should have done was to take the plumber’s idea to the general contractor – the other team captain – and discuss it with him. He would not have approved the idea of moving the appliance under the house, but he might have been able to figure out another, legal location so that she could have had her pantry.

Before you embark on a substantial remodeling project, learn a little about the rules of the game.

MORE INFORMATION

You’ll find lots more information about the home remodeling process in Managing a Renovation: Staying in Charge and Out of Trouble, our friendly and comprehensive homeowner’s guide to remodeling project management. Download the table of contents and a sample chapter, or go to the order form to purchase it.

We offer ready-to-use construction forms, including a complete remodeling contract, in our Bookstore, as well. Have a look.

And, you may want to look at our list of More Resources for some great design ideas.

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