One of the most challenging matters to orchestrate as a home owner is finding and hiring the best contractors near me. This becomes such a challenge because like finding a lawyer or doctor, homeowners do not really understand the nuances and details of these construction professionals.
Our objective for this article is not to make you an expert in locating and hiring contractors near me, but rather offer you some sound advice that will guide you in your decision making concerning the best construction contractors for your personal needs.
All construction contractors provide a professional service for the betterment of an owner’s property. The first step in this process is to identify the proper contracting service provider to fit your needs. That is to say, if you need your house painted, you need to research and hire painters not home remodelers.
Defining the Type of Contractors Near Me
There are many different types of construction contractors to select from. Understanding what services, they offer and how they perform will send you in the right direction for your quest.
The first distinction is understanding that contractors either perform their service through employees or subcontractors. When they use employees, they are considered self-performing contracting firms. These are normally W-2 employees of the construction company and are capable of multiple trade skills. This capability is what makes the employee such a valuable asset to the company.
The traditional performing model for the construction company is to contract for the skilled services of specialty subcontractors. This form of construction contracting is executed with 1099 independent trade contractors for each specific skill required for a project.
Let’s review each of the following construction management categories available to hire and the generally accepted reasons for hiring them;
1. General Contractors
These construction companies are known as prime contractors because they are hired by owners to manage the materials and other subcontractors required for the entire project. General contractors traditionally manage the onsite construction activities as well as the offsite administrative tasks such as accounting, contracts and insurance and procurement responsibilities.
General contractors are commonly preferred service provider to hire because it is a one stop shopping experience. Whereas if the owner manages the construction process themselves, they would be required to hire skilled subcontractors and manage each of their affairs independently.
Traditionally general contractors will operate by hiring subcontractors instead of having employees that perform the skilled trades, but the general contractor will often have employees that act as onsite managers and back-office administrators.
2. Design Build Contractors
These service providers can be both a general contractor and or home remodelers. The distinctive attribute of the design build contractor is that they facilitate both design and construction services, hence their name’s sake.
The advantage of this type of service provider is that the overall process is faster than using the traditional design to bid delivery method. In addition, the design build contractor is fully responsible for both design and construction, instead of just the construction when an architect prepares the home plans. The design build contractor also can facilitate any interior design services that may be required as well.
The home plans are designed to a targeted construction budget. Once the construction documents are complete, the design build contractor prepares the actual cost of construction that should reflect a cost relative to the targeted construction budget.
If both design and cost are acceptable, the service provider commences construction.
3. Home Remodelers
These contractors operate using both the general contractor model and the self-performing employee model. This service provider comes in all company sizes from one person to as many as 20 people.
These contractors often specialize in smaller projects such as kitchen and bathrooms remodels, patios, garages and small room additions.
The benefit of using a home remodeler is their availability and willingness to take on small projects.
The disadvantage of using the home remodelers instead of a general contractor is that most home remodelers do not perform design work. The owner is required to hire an architect to prepare permit ready construction documents.
4. Home Improvement Contractors
The home improvement contractors are normally serving homeowners for such things as painting, window and door replacement, roof replacement and landscaping services.
There is another group of home improvement contractors which require licenses. These would be mechanical, plumbing and electrical contractors. They also provide emergency services for after hour services.
Hiring a home improvement contractor makes sense when an owner has a direct need for a fore mentioned service needs without the need of other services, hence not needing a general contractor or home remodeler.
Finding the Best Contractors Near You
There a number of effective methods of searching for and finding contractors near me. The most common approach in searching for a contractor near you is a Google search of best contractors near me.
As you sort through the variety of findings you will likely discover you will need to filter your quarry with the relevant service contracting keywords I have previously discussed. You should look to have a qualifying phone conversation with 3-5 of the contractors and solicit bids from 3 of them for the desired service.
Another popular approach in finding the best contractors is to use a service provider such as Angi’s or Houzz to find a qualified contractor. These third-party contracting service providers offer the homeowner the name of the contractor at no charge to the owner. In this situation these service brokers charge the contractors a fee for the project lead.
A third approach to finding contractors is to ask friends or family that has had some previous contracting service completed. This may not be the exact services that you are looking for, but using this method should provide you a greater degree of confidence of the contractor’s abilities.
Once you have identified the contractors you would like to work with, you will need to prepare construction documents for the contractors to develop a bid.
Developing a Project Scope of Work
One of the most important bid documents that the owner will need is a project scope of work. A scope of work is a written description of the labor task, material specifications and methods and means of executing the project.
Depending on the need for quality required, the scope of work may also define the performance specifications and acceptable tolerances.
The scope of work can also be used as a contract in smaller projects that do not have required construction plans. When drawings are required the scope of work should refer to the construction documents and list the pages included.
Do You Need Construction Documents
The answer is yes. The amount of construction documents required depends on the complexity of the project and the requirements of the local permitting authority. In all construction improvement projects, the minimum requirements are a detailed scope of work for the contract.
In the case of home improvements like new flooring, painting and light carpentry, permits are rarely required.
For home remodeling improvements such as kitchen and bathroom remodeling when the project is moving plumbing and electrical locations, permits will be required in addition to a scope of work. If the kitchen or bathroom has a new layout, a floor plan will be required.
If the owner is having cabinets built, we recommend developing shop drawings to capture the construction details and to avoid any possible misunderstandings.
For new home construction, major home remodeling and home additions, will all require complete construction documents including a complete set of architectural plans, a site plan, a drainage plan, an electrical plan and engineered structural plans.
When soliciting bids on major construction projects, using these documents and a scope of work will provide the owner with bid proposals that have qualified quantities and specifications.
Allowing contractors to prepare a bid without construction documents will normally cause the owner challenges comparing bids, leading to out of control construction cost and likely many disputes.
Essential Requirements for Hiring Contractors
For the best experience and outcome with your home project, following our recommendations for preparing and planning for the specific type of contractor you will need will prove to be worthwhile.
General discussion points that should be discussed are the proposed contracting construction process, the critical milestones of the schedule, access to the house if the family will remain in the dwelling during construction improvements.
Long lead item products should also be identified and purchased early if they may hold up the project completion and always discuss the laydown and storage locations for dumpsters, bulk materials and subcontractor parking to avoid logistic problems.
Developing the necessary construction documents and scope of work will set the field for creating a uniform comparison for your preferred contractor bids. This includes using a product selection allowance amounts for all bidders’ proposals.
Once you have received the bids you requested it is time to prepare a construction contract for the services. This will normally be prepared by the contractor.
The contractor you are selecting should have general liability insurance to cover the risk of someone being hurt on the job or damage to the property. Without general liability insurance, any accidents may become the responsibility of the property owner. If the contractor has self-performing employees, the contractor should also have workman compensation insurance.
Conclusion
Searching, planning and hiring a contractor near me requires an understanding of the size of the project and type of contractor that you will need.
Identifying the construction documents, you will need and the project delivery method to complete your project, will guide you to the best resource for developing the home plan documents.
Following these recommendations will result in a streamline process which yields the optimum competitive home construction cost.
