Silvertree Remodeling

Save money by helping

In over 30 years of remodeling I have been offered by homeowners the option of letting me have them be available to work on their home.  I assume these people thought they were hard and reliable workers and that may indeed be true, but I never let it happen.  Why is that?

First of all,  do you suppose these people offered the owners of restaurants they eat at to help cook the meals and maybe save some money?  How about offering the dentist to help put their kids braces on, or maybe they offered to help their car mechanic to replace the muffler and save a little money?  I doubt it.   So why ask me?

When you offer to help your contractor you are saying to him that a person with no skill, save a long ago part time job doing labor during summer vacation will be on his job.  You are saying that you want an amateur to be on the crew and are assuming this won’t impact the outcome.

There is a flow with professionally run jobs, it’s a well oiled machine with everyone on site doing their accorded tasks.  Things go in a fixed order that usually results in a better production and finishes.  A licensed contractor has insurance and workers compensation that protects and takes care of anyone in his employ.   When a homeowner works with their contractor they have just created an insurance problem for the contractor,  exposing him to litigation if the homeowner were to get hurt.

Last but not least, an inexperienced crew member will need lots of management and explanations, and this slows down the project manager and takes him away from more important tasks.  This means that the job will take longer and maybe cost more.

Seriously, think about it this way, what if your contractor came to your job and asked to work next to you?  Would this work at your place of employment?  If you’re a banker  can I come and help you write loans, or if you’re a department store manager can I come to work with you and help out,  you know,  just do simple stuff like put things on shelves?  Would that be something you would consider?

There isn’t a contractor out there that doesn’t cringe when a homeowner wants to help.  Reasons are insurance regulations, the need for close supervision, the fear of something bad happening like an injury or something being broken.  Smart contractors do not sign up jobs with homeowners on the crew.

Can you do anything to help?

Yes, maybe you can demo and clean before we show up, maybe you can make sure there is nothing in our way, you can be ready when its decision time.  Just don’t help.  This is what we do and we are trained to do it, and we train our helpers to work within the work culture we have developed.

Thanks for the thought, but its harder than it looks.

Paul Lesieur

Paul Lesieur General Remodel

Where can you save? What works and what doesn’t.

This is part 1 of 4 articles on how a home owner can save on their remodeling. Today we start part 1.

Getting your own materials.

First thing is how does a contractor make money? Car mechanics make $100 an hour. Comcast charges about $125 per hour, ATT about $125 per hour. Of this the installer may make $35 an hour with benefits, then the cost of overhead like advertising, truck, tools, office staff and ,so on that money gets whittled down to about $10 left over for profits. So, the phone company does not really clear $100 an hour, they have expenses. And the customers pay for those expenses. The profit, well that allows the business to grow. And yes, the owner, the person who takes the risks makes money.

Companies mark up materials they supply and install, and will only service products they supply. Why is that? Well first off is no one will warranty a product the customer supplies, why would they? What if it was a return with parts missing or it doesn’t work right. Most professionals will install homeowner materials, but they wont warranty them. Businesses markup materials to be able to afford to come back out on service issues if they come up. If they didn’t do this they could not afford to provide and warranty the products they install. If your service provider, lets say the plumber, puts in a toilet and it leaks, he owes you a cost free repair, no questions asked.

Homeowners looking to save money will sometimes offer to provide materials. We will install them, but if we run short of tile lets say, you owe us a trip charge to come back another day, thats only fair. If you get a screaming deal on paint, $1 a gallon, you will save money, but my markup still needs to cover my business expenses so my labor costs may be a little bit higher. We need X amount of dollars to stay in business. If we can’t make money on materials, we make it up on labor.

So, how can you save on materials? If you find products deeply discounted and they work for your remodel you will save money, just ask your contractor if he will install them. Keep in mind, you are responsible to make sure they are adequate in quality and amount to complete the job. You won’t have a warranty, but for many products that isn’t important. Tile, lumber, paint, and other items rarely have problems, but remember, if the paint isn’t shaded the right color, that’s your problem.

Last question is, why do contractors buy such expensive materials? You would too if your job depended on satisfying clients. Good stuff installs faster and lasts longer and fails less. Value is what you get out of something and price is what you paid. If you want to get materials to save money, ask your contractor what those savings will cost you.

Paul Lesieur-Silvertree Construction a Twin Cities Remodeler

Next week: Can I help?

Paul Lesieur General Remodel