9 Things I learned from interviewing contractors
May 2024
There are known knowns; these are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -— the ones we don’t know we don’t know. – Donald Rumsfeld speaking at a US Defense Department meeting, February 2002
- HVAC vents running through one wall
It’s been a couple of months since I first reached out to our contractors. We’ve given each of them at least one tour of the house, and some have had their subcontractors come by to see the house as well. I’ve asked for quotes from each of them, and some have arrived.
However, even without the quotes, I’ve learned a lot just from listening to what the various contractors say as they walk through the house. I suspect most folks won’t find these that surprising, but because I’m fairly ignorant about the nuts and bolts of home construction, I discovered that:
- Things shift over time. As we were walking through our lower basement, we happened to walk by a slightly bowed 2x4 near the stairway. The contractor tapped it, and it made a soft “boing” sound. He then said, “Huh. That 2x4 shouldn’t be carrying load.” It suggests that some part of the floor above has shifted.
- Moving interior walls isn’t that difficult. I always thought that you couldn’t move a wall without it costing an arm and a leg. As it turns out, it really depends a lot on what’s inside the wall. If the wall’s primary purpose is “holding up paint,” it’s actually pretty easy to move. However, ….
- Vents and drains determine how difficult it really is. Gravity defines a lot of where walls need to be. Drains from bathrooms, kitchens, and laundry rooms need to have a continuous slope down to the septic outlet. Vents for baths and kitchens have to angle upward all the way until they exit the roof. So while an architectural plan may look great on paper, if the vents and drains can’t get to where they need to go, the plan needs to change.
I was impressed by the expertise of all three of our candidate contractors. And I’m pretty sure they could all do the job. But after 8 weeks of waiting for estimates, the final quotes were all, well, very different.
To avoid anyone getting a bad impression of any of these builders, I’ve named them A, B, and C.
Also, I had never heard the term allowances before I read these quotes (I told you I was a neophyte with regard to construction), but the contractors explained to me that allowances are finish items that the homeowners choose or that have substantial variations in price prior to purchase. These include, but are not limited to:
- Appliances
- Plumbing fixtures
- Lighting fixtures
- Flooring
- Cabinetry
- Countertops
- Painting and finishes
- HVAC equipment
- Tile and stonework
Needless to say, these allowances can have a significant effect on the cost of the project.
So the table below shows how the quotes compared. Question marks indicate values not provided in the quotes.
| Company | Construction | Allowances | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Builder A | $410,000 | ? | ? |
| Builder B | $502,000 | $143,000 | $645,000 |
| Builder C | ? | ? | $748,000 |
I think what we have here are a lot of unknowns, both known and unknown, to paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld.
Fortunately, one of the builders confirmed my unease with the variation in quotes. He sent an email that hit the nail on the head for me.
You have said a couple of times that you are waiting for a contractor to get pricing to you. Just some thoughts on that….keep in mind that I would be skeptical of any “hard” quotes that are produced now without really getting into the details. Jen and I did some back of the envelope pricing and we came up with a number around $ 748,000. As an order of magnitude that is a good starting point, but there is too much in this project that is open to interpretation and that is un-seen that could swing that number above or below that by quite a bit.
To put a hard price on a job such as yours now usually means one of two things:
It is either being priced purely based on what is shown on the plans and they are simply assuming certain allowances. This means that the inevitable change orders will follow because the plans and specifications do not have enough detail at this point to allow a contractor to be able to provide an truly accurate price.
or if the intention is to not have change orders, then the contractor is padding the budget to “cover” themselves. If that is the case, then you will be paying more than you need to because the drawings and specifications are simply not detailed enough at this point.
This rings very true to my ears. While all three builders have inspected what they can see, it’s the things they can’t see until we start taking down walls that worry us. What if there’s mold inside the walls? What if the structure framing is somehow compromised? What if our existing balcony outside our bedroom doesn’t meet current building codes?
Another aspect of this builder that we like is that the company is offering us resources that none of the other builders have offered including:
- A dedicated project manager who’ll provide weekly reports.
- An on-site supervisor who will oversee the work of the subcontractors.
- An interior designer who can help us make decisions about countertops, tile, cabinets, paint colors, and a zillion other components of the project.
- A back office that will handle all the accounting and billing.
The interior designer is actually a pretty big deal for us. Both Carolyn and I are starting to get a bit overwhelmed by all the decisions we need to make to bring this project to completion. We think having a professional guide us on this will make us feel more confident that we’re not going to build a monstrosity.
The weekly reports and on-site supervisor definitely appeal to me as a recovering ex-project manager. And I like the idea that in a job of this magnitude, they have a back office that is keeping track of all the parts orders and invoices as we go.
Still, this is a tough decision. And we don’t feel like we have enough information to make it, especially when the stakes are this high.