Like every other first time homeowner, we bought a house and dreamed about its possibilities. Our house has a full basement that we thought we could turn into a basement apartment and then in later years reclaim as extra living space as our family grew. We took about eight months to live in the house and get a feel for it before we made the decision to start the renovation. We thought we did everything right, We got quotes from at least four different contractors and recommendations from family. We decided on one contractor and looked at some his work in person and photos. We signed a contract with him and thought we good because we "had it in writing". So, we were well on our way to having a fully finished basement in about 3 months.WRONG!
About four months into the project is where things started to go sideways and where our lack of experience was our downfall. The following are the things I think we will try to remember when moving forward with our project or in attempting other projects.
1) A contract is not good enough. You need to understand what is in the contract and it needs to include everything. We had a contract but the breakdown of work was so vague that we didn't know what tasks were included in each section and how much each of those items was going to cost. It was so general, that we didn't actually understand the steps in completing our project.
2) Keeping up with the job as it goes. We were not able to be there because we both work full time but mostly we just blindly trusted the contractor to know what he was doing and relied on the building inspector to catch anything not done correctly.There will always be things that are unexpected in a renovation and you need to be responsible in dealing with those changes. We should have educated ourselves as the project moved forward with proper techniques, talked to the building inspectors ourselves about building codes and permits that were required. Don't just trust the contractor because as it turns out ours lied and did not get the permits he was supposed to and the building inspectors are only there as a last backup after the work is completed.
3)Check your contractor's qualifications, we checked that ours was a member of the better business bureau but didn't know about professional associations that exsisted to govern builders. We also didn't know that there are different types of contractors, finishing contractors do finishing work etc.
4) Your contractor is not your friend. This doesn't mean you need to be mean to them, but you have a business relationship and you are the boss, so if they aren't doing the work or following your directions it is your job as the employer to ask why or question the reason. Don't nag but you are paying for the things you let slip by. In our case, we had some bad weather and the contractor said he couldn't work because of it (more so because the wet made our yard turn to quicksand and push a wheelbarrow through it would have been really hard).Turns out there was an easy fix to the problem, but we didn't find it until we actually looked it to ourselves much much later, about 2 months later. We excepted the excuse because we didn't want to be unreasonable and demanding and I wouldn't want to work outside in the rain and snow either. But I choose an office job so I wouldn't have to, the contractor knew going into this career that they may need to get a bit wet or cold in order to finish the job.
I think that is a start, I don't want to scare anyone away from renovating nor do I mean to imply that builders or contractors are bad people. I except that part to the reason for our situation is our fault. I just wanted to pass on what we had learned in the last year in the hopes that it will help someone else avoid what we are going through.
In case you were wondering, we are now speaking with a lawyer and trying to borrow money from family to finish the house, but it will cost more because of the damage that was done because it has been sitting so long. There is also a possibility we won't get our money back as we know the the contractor does not have the money, the company will most likely go bankrupt and close, then they will re-open with a new name and carry on.
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