Just to be clear from the start: we love working with homeowners! Information sharing is one of our very favorite things, so the education process of helping someone prepare for a tile installation is usually great fun for us. When your project is mostly cosmetic, and you have the patience to coordinate (or do) some or all the trades involved, then serving as your own contractor can be a great option.
However, when your project involves moving multiple plumbing fixtures, re-routing water, or relocating walls, you’re absolutely going to get the best result when you hire a licensed, professional general contractor.
No matter how easy they make it look on television, construction (when it is done well) is a very specialized and knowledge-based profession. The parts and pieces that go into a project are innumerable, and the details needed to get a project finished on-time (or even close) are voluminous.
When chatting with one of our contractor friends recently, we came up with the following list of why we think using a general contractor is a good thing:
- Their industry knowledge (licensing, testing, and continuing education)
- Up-to-date on codes/ materials/ techniques
- Established trade accounts for materials sourcing & contractor discounts (their established relationships)
- Technical adaptability to unforeseen issues (what’s going on behind that wall?)
- Design assistance (what has worked before as well as outside-the-box ideas)
- Appraisal requirement (if you change the square footage of your house, you must get it permitted, or you will not be able to count that addition when you sell)
- Connections with vendors and priority scheduling of work & deliveries
- One point of contact and responsibility
- They know the requirements for permitting, fees, restrictions, insurance, etc.
- Warranty
- Fewer headaches and less stress for you
- The time and capacity to live your life during the remodel
Your home is your largest investment, so you want work done on it to last for a long time. Often that means hiring an industry specialist to get the job done right. We’d be glad to recommend some great, local general contractors to help with your next project!
Neuse Tile Service 