The following comment was partially posted to the New York Times article "Building Rage", May 15, 2008:

The relationship between homeowner and contractor is fundamentally driven by two competing agendas:
  • the contractor wants to make money
  • the homeowners want what they want for as little money as possible

    This invariably leads to some friction and both sides need to be prepared for it.  The more detail that goes into your planning, the easier your job will be.  Period.  Invest as much time as possible at the outset to spec out what you want. Problem is, every job invariably has some changes.  The homeowner may decide that something just does not look right after all, and you never know what you might find inside the walls, especially in renovating an old historic property like the ones we focus on in ecobrownstone.com.  Changes that are outside the scope of the original specifications, and not the fault of the contractor, will be up-charges. 

    One rule of thumb is to add a percentage to your total quoted costs so that up-charges are part of your budget -- I use the following rough scale depending on how big the project is, adjusted up or down depending on how much up-charge risk there is and how much research for accuracy has gone behind all my budgetary cost assumptions, for example there's more risk if you are replacing major systems:

    • budget 10% for jobs under $50,000
    • budget 7% for jobs between $50,000 and around $250,000
    • budget 5% for jobs over $250,000


    Of course, if the work you are doing is not through a general contractor but rather is a defined project that you hire a tradeperson direclty to do, then the quoted price is the quoted price if it's spec'ed out correctly, and you don't necessarily need to budget for up-charges.   

    • That being said, not all changes are major enough to warrant a "change order" and different pricing, and it infuriates homeowners to be presented with up-charges for immaterial changes.   Contractors surely build in some higher-cost risk into their quotes as well and should eat small changes.

    One very important aspect of the relationship is that the contractor must keep in mind AT ALL TIMES  that he/she is a guest in someone's house.  Contractors, you don't own it or control it and you play by the house rules.  For instance, no smoking means no smoking in the house nor on the front stoop, or porch, or patio, or garden.  Clean up means clean up.  A meeting at 8AM means 8AM, not 10:30AM.

    And a note to Mssrs. Bob and Alan Hanbury who have a contractual clause that workers  “shall not be expected to keep gates and the like closed for animals and children.” -- anyone who has a child or  a pet would be crazy to hire you because you seem to be proud of your blatant disregard for the creatures who live in the house.  In fact, the apparent lack of respect for the homeowner's premises that comes through in that clause makes me think that anyone would be crazy to hire you.  Do you think it's an acceptable risk to leave open a door or gate for a young child to walk out into traffic?  If someone working at your rural neighbor's house in CT forgets to close the gate of the pasture and your neighbor's horse tramples your lawn and flower beds would you be happy?   When the homeowners are careful to be sure their dog has a closed pen so as not to roam freely and you stupidly, carelessly let it get out, you don't think you are responsible it if bites someone? 

    On the flip-side, any homeowner who won't let a contractor use a bathroom in their home is inconsiderate and selfish, contractors are human after all -- but make sure they know they can use it or you might have a situation I found on two of my jobs where a particular worker (1) left a pile of crap behind my furnace, and (2) left a plastic bag of sh-t in my hallway!  It never occurred to me that anyone would think they couldn't use the bathroom.  Now I make sure that I tell my contractors that they can use the facilities.  I sympathize with the worry over trampling debris onto new floors, but hey, you're renovating, so make a path of construction paper to the bathroom.

    Both sides need to try to be fair. For example, I recently did a job which included replacing a 300 SF worn out kitchen floor of linoleum brick-shaped tiles with a cork floor.  I had experience installing cork tiles, my contractor did not.  I knew the underfloor had to be absolutely smooth and that the layer of old glue left behind after ripping out the tiles  would either need to be removed somehow or the underfloor would need to be replaced or covered with a thin laminate.  I spec'ed the job and installation of specified cork tile, and it was quite clear to me that the bid was way too low, so I told the contractor that he needed to acquaint himself with the product and what was involved, and rebid.  It came in at a higher price, but a fair price. 

    A couple of other simple rules:

    Homeowners, don't blame your contractor if your indecision delays your job. Contractors, expect penalty decreases if you don't stick to a reasonable timetable to which you previously agreed. 

    Contractors, every little change is not material and is not a license to charge more money.  And, you can't charge more because you screwed-up the bid and your costs were in fact higher.

    Contractor, you may think the little odds and ends that hang on at the end of a job are not important because the space can be occupied and used, but for the homeowner the most important thing is what the finished product looks like.  The devil is in the detail, and those little odds and ends may affect the impact of the design -- if the homeowners didn't want a new design they wouldn't have embarked on a renovation project and hired you in the first place.   Hold-backs that are significant enough to be felt are incentivizing to get the work done, to pull your crew off another bigger job to tie-up loose ends, and appropriate. 

    Bottom line, the more detail that goes into your planning, and the more realistic you are from the outset about expecting changes and a few up-charges,  means there are fewer surprises, fewer changes, a more harmonious relationship and an easier job.