When in need of a Houston remodel company many owners will search remodeling contractors near me.
This search quarry is a great place to start to get local remodelers near your home. The question is what should you do with the resources that are generated from this search.
It is wise and helpful to speak with a local full service remodel company early in the home remodeling process.
Once you have discussed your remodeling needs with a vetted group of remodel companies and determined your seriousness about moving forward, it is time to select the professional you feel comfortable with.
The general goal is to reduce a list of 5 to 6 qualified home remodelers to a short list of 2 to 3 bidders.
So, it’s important to ask specific questions that will provide you some level of comfort to want to do business with them. Here is a list of effective questions to ask your remodel company.
We will provide a summary of the professional services and benefits to you as the owner for soliciting remodeling service from a remodel company;
- A Summary of the Current Home Remodeling Industry
- Why Hire a Remodel Company?
- Qualified Experienced Supervision
- Professional Adviser
- Schedule and Performance Proficiency
- Construction Budget Preparation
- Construction Management
Learn about the benefits of a full service approach of a Houston remodel company for your remodeling needs
Current Home Remodeling Industry
The home remodeling services and the home products industry is estimated to produce nearly $400 billion annually by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.
This amount represents nationally all home improvement services and products. The home remodeling segment accounts for more than a quarter of this total.
The Houston home remodeling sector continues to grow at approximately 6% annual. This is principally due to the growth in home equities and job growth in most major cities.
Owner’s emotional commitment to their house and a promising economy drives them to find confidence to investing in their home.
The demand for home remodeling services is also fueled by a shortage in inventory of the new home industry and aging metro inventory of existing homes.
The Houston home remodeling is estimated to continue its brisk growth as one of the leading national cities in this industry.
Houston is suffering from a shortage of skilled labor, rising material cost and a shortage of single family houses.
These market conditions make locating and hiring a professional and competent home remodel company even more challenging than at any previous period of time.
Most homeowners do or should understand that remodeling provides many benefits.
Some of the more important benefits are supervision, professional experience guidance, remodeling efficiency and ultimately saving money by avoiding costly mistakes.
We will discuss these benefits in detail and more importantly discuss why hiring a home remodeler makes financial sense. We have provided an infographic on hiring a remodeling contractor.
Why Hire a Remodel Company?
Many homeowners understand the benefits of using a Houston remodel company but are reluctant to hire a professionally qualified contractor due to the additional cost of the general contractor’s fee.
Depending of the actual project the home remodeling contractor’s fees will traditionally be in the range of 20% – 30%.
Although the consequences of using a cheaper general contractor or not using one at all, can lead to project mistakes and subcontractor rework that will rival the original contractor fees the owner wanted to avoid.
In addition to budget blow-outs, there are a host of other negative consequences that increase in probability.
Unwelcome results such as the project schedule doubling, unintended damage to adjoining finishes and poorly executed work fails to provide its intended service, in addition to unexpected financial overruns of construction cost.
These all result in anger, frustration and a great deal of repair of previous work then was intended.
Thoughtful consideration and decision making are required when preparing for a home remodel project in Houston.
Aligning the owner’s interest with the home remodeling contractors’ interest will result in a much more pleasant experience and better project performance results.
Qualified Professional Supervision
Planning and managing a major remodel project is complicated and requires professional experience.
When a homeowner hires a Houston remodel company, they are expecting qualified and experienced services such as the proper material procurement, appropriate sequential scheduling and the insight to anticipate situational problems.
Remodel supervision also requires project quality control. The Houston remodel company is expected to establish performance standards and the tolerances for deviation with all craftsmanship.
Managing subcontractors and self-performing trades can be both time consuming and necessitate conflict resolution.
Your remodel company spends a good deal of time on all these items and more as part of the supervision services.
Your remodel contractor provides the performance specifications for the material vendors and skilled labor standards.
These standards are communicated in their subcontractor scope of work and reviewed during the actual installation for confirmation.
Professional Adviser
One of the most overlooked benefits of commissioning a house remodeler is the professional adviser services that come with hiring an experienced professional.
These services address such matters as building codes, design ideas, material performances and cost option estimating for making for alternative choices.
Having a professional contracting expert on site during construction mitigates a lot of potential missteps and errors.
There are many potential cost risks associated house remodel. The main difference between new home construction and house remodel is the concealed unknown factors of remodeling.
When your contractor opens up concealed conditions like walls and foundations, the code requires them to bring the condition up to current code.
This can cause unexpected cost and difficulty in compliance with the new publish building codes.
The cost surprises are usually the responsibility of the owner and finding a cost effective and code compliant solution is always in the owner’s interest.
Schedule and Performance Efficiency
There is a critical path to each major remodeling project. It may be materials or it can be an actual construction task.
Identifying these early in the construction schedule is essential in being efficient. The selection of subcontractors can be a significant event in the success of job site efficiency.
Selecting a subcontractor that either performs poorly or does not respond to the urgencies of a schedule can also result in cost overruns and disrupted project performance.
There is a central relationship between the construction schedule and subcontractor performance.
A poorly developed construction schedule can have a profound effect on the subcontractor’s efficiency and profitability.
If a subcontractor consistently is frustrated by the prime contractors poor scheduling and the negative affects it has on their profitability, they are not likely to want to continue to work with that remodeling contractor.
Construction Budget Preparation
One of the critical elements of residential construction management is the creation of a house remodeling budget that is accurate and reflects the product selections and architectural amenities of the project.
This is the very reason that a homeowner should not hire the cheapest home remodel company based upon the bid alone.
Hiring an ill-equipped remodeling contractor can actually lead to an incomplete construction budget, higher construction cost and a high probability of questionable results.
All major house remodel projects should have a detailed budget that is structured by essential tasks line items.
Managing the remodel budget is all about managing construction cost. Managing construction cost is not just about finding the cheapest materials or labor.
Construction cost management is a balance of performance efficiency, quality workmanship and the associated cost.
This can also be referred to as a cost value relationship. The cost value relationship is an essential cornerstone to the optimum performance and long-term value.
If an owner or their remodel company does not see the value in a particular product or skilled labor function, there is little likelihood that they will select the source or item.
If you want to dive deeper in the house remodel budget development read this.
Construction Management
There is essential two categories of construction management for a house remodel project.
The first is the administrative management tasks required for each project. The second is the onsite construction management tasks required.
Administrative construction management task is normally associated with back office duties such as; bookkeeping, financial matters, estimating, procurement, contracts and insurance administrative.
These functions are an essential part of the overall project management, but often occur away from the job site.
Construction management activities take place on the project site and include items such as scheduling, material logistics, quality control compliance, safety management and problem solving.
These tasks are traditionally what one thinks of when discussing construction management. To learn more about construction management visit our link.
Conclusion
Seeking home remodeling contractors near me will provide you a good collection of capable local remodelers to assist in educating yourself.
You will still be required to reduce this group to a short list of remodeling contractors to solicit bids for your Houston remodel company.
Discussing the project scope of work and asking effective questions about the details of the project and how their firm can best serve your needs.
Understanding if you need construction documents and targeting a remodel budget to arrange for financing will lead to a substantial beginning for starting the process and hire the appropriate contractor.
To learn more about the home remodeling process visit our link.
