Imagine that you are about to rebuild your house, remodel one room, or change the roof or siding. You have been planning this for so long, thinking about it, saving money and making decisions. When you finally decide to go for it, the last thing you expect is a total construction/remodeling disaster! 

How does this happen? Construction and remodeling are associated with stress and often a mess for many people. Unqualified, irresponsible general contractors can turn your dream project into a nightmare.

Such stories are, unfortunately, not rare. We often hear how disappointed and frustrated homeowners are about their GCs. So we want to tell you the story of Anna and her family, who came to us in the middle of their house remodeling process and asked for help. We hope the story of their experience will give you another reason to carefully choose trustworthy professionals before engaging with them in this very important phase of your life.

About one year ago, Anna and her husband decided to rebuild their one-story house and add a second level, an additional 1000 square feet. They had no experience in remodeling and had no idea how difficult it could be to choose the right team. So they took the searching process a bit lightly, interviewing a few general contractors who were mostly referred from friends. They decided to go with the one who gave them the most affordable bid as budget was the priority.

When you enter Anna’s house it looks nice and fresh as a newly remodeled house should. But when I complimented it, Anna started to laugh because she knows where the flaws are — uneven lines, wrong colors, doors that don't close, and many more mistakes that still need to be fixed. Needless to say, she was disappointed after being under construction for 12 months. Here is her story. 

Anna T. — We lived in our house for 16 years and decided to rebuild and remodel it. We asked a few friends and they recommended a GC whom we interviewed. They sounded knowledgeable, with experience too, and their bid was the most attractive to us so we made a decision and that’s how it started. 

First was demolition; everything happened so fast. We were excited to see the process get going but it was only the beginning. When the house came together and we were walking on the construction site, imagining where rooms, plumbing and other stuff should be, I realized that those people were not carefully managing the project; they were not following the schedule or paying attention to details. 

I understand that there can be back orders, something can break during construction. Such mistakes happen and a contractor should be able to fix them. But ordering the wrong materials, miscommunicating with subs and owners, and most of all not knowing what they were doing made us realize that those people were not professionals, that they had no experience in building such a big project. Yes, they had experience, maybe a room addition, bathroom remodel or some minor remodeling projects, but not such a big project.

In the beginning, before we started looking for a contractor, we had everything prepared, we had our architect do drawing, design and layout, all the measurements, and we needed a contractor to come in and start construction. But when it started and everything went so wrong, we were very frustrated. 

Our problem was that, according to our contract, if we canceled it before completion, we would have to pay our contractor anyway and then go and find a different company. So, there was no other way but to make them finish the project.

We had another contractor, a designer, come in and take a look to see if everything was going according to plan. The designer felt very bad for us. They stepped in to help manage the project when we finally admitted our contractor was completely lacking in management skills.

You would think that the contractor would care about the project, schedule, quality and money, but in our case, it seemed they didn’t really care much. I saw my contractor measuring board with his feet, missing materials, not showing up at the construction site when he was supposed to. We still have some details that need to be fixed and we failed two inspections. We are still struggling to get him to complete the project and sign off on the contract. Maybe one day after that we can bring in another professional to finish the job.

Our biggest mistake was not checking their portfolio (which, as we found out later, they don’t have) and not going online and searching for more testimonials. It appears that the GC we hired does not exist online — no website, no social media profiles, no Yelp feedback. You can only find them with their license number among the licensed contractors and that’s it. So, the only thing I can do to help others not make the same mistake is to file an official complaint to the licensing board and hope they will take some action.

Right now, we just want to complete this project and move away, and pretend nothing happened.  

Now we know that if a contractor is not knowledgeable, you have to educate yourself and be fully engaged in the process, which takes a lot of time and energy. That literally becomes a full-time job and you realize that it’s worth it to pay more for a professionally done project.

So, what should you do when you decide to remodel your house? Here is advice from TBS's CEO and experienced builder Mamuka Grigolia: 

"Look for a professional general contractor, preferably with a design-build company; check references; review their portfolio; meet with them and ask questions; and write up a clear contract — for example, the AIA standard contract document — including every aspect of the agreement that is important for both of you. Check both their and their subcontractors’ general liability and workers compensation insurance, and make sure their insurance does not exempt the type of work you are doing. You as a homeowner are responsible for making sure that people working on your property are fully covered."

Construction and remodeling should not cause frustration — there should be excitement for a new beginning. So choose the right team and engage yourself in the process along with your contractor, just as if you were business partners.