Building Your Dream Apartment

Residential Carpentry—the Dos and Don'ts

22 November 2016

Julian Caldwell

Remodeling your house can be an expensive headache, or it can be an easy, exciting fresh start for a forever home. The difference is in the contractor. When you are looking for someone to help with residential carpentry, it is important to have reasonable expectations. Construction workers and contractors working under this model typically have experience in anything from flooring to cabinetry. Make sure before selecting a company that you follow these rules:  

Shop around

Using references before selecting any kind of company or service in your home is essential. This means you should look for extensive reviews. In these reviews, search for key topics like authenticity, quality of work, specialization, punctuality, and pricing. If you can, find a trusted friend, family member, or neighbor who had similar work done and had a good experience. If you like someone's windows or interior trim, ask them who the contractor was; there is no better proof of purchase.

Get several estimates

Pricing varies a lot. This advice is not to suggest always choosing the cheapest option, because the quality of work may match the pricing. However, the sweet spot most times lies somewhere in the middle. Two major factors that go into this are time and teamwork. How long will this project be taking, and how many carpenters will be assigned to this project? These are questions you should ask as well. A two-month project could take more workers half the time, but how does that effect your payment? 

Be specific about what you want

 A unified goal should pertain to a time estimate and a budget. A five-thousand-dollar project can turn into a ten-thousand-dollar project quickly, so coming up with price limit is very important. Changing your mind about cabinets or the granite counter you chose halfway through a project can be an expensive mistake. Deciding to blow out a wall to create French doors might be more that you initially bargained for—so make sure there is a lot of communication between you and the hired team of professionals.

Always read the contract

Often, people don't read the fine print. This should not be one of those times. All the aforementioned information about budget, timing, and execution should be listed in the contract somewhere so everything is set in stone. This way there will be no surprises. All the hard work done researching and reviewing, in the beginning, will save you time and money later.

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