Renovating a room or an entire home is expensive. There is not a "cheap" way to do it properly using quality materials. Homeowners are often shocked at the cost and then think the contractor has an exorbitant profit margin added to the job. This may be the case with some builders. However; you have done your homework on builder #1… got referrals, trust him/her, and you want to work with him or her. But the estimate came in higher than you expected! What now? You dont feel comfortable with the other contractors that bid the job even though their price came in lower. Should you ask builder #1 to lower their price? NO, and here are the reasons why.
An experienced builder doesn’t try to make a fortune off of one job. They want you to be happy with the project and refer them to your friends. They are local and have a reputation to uphold. The experienced builder hires a better craftsman so that you will be happy with their work. A good craftsman is going to charge more for their experience and quality of work. The experienced builder uses quality materials and doesn’t cut corners because he takes pride in his work, and doesn’t want to be doing tons of warranty work. Time and money are put into areas that are never seen in the finished project. There are overhead costs such as general liability and other commercial insurance, continuing education, memberships to numerous building and design organizations… to name a few. Every successful business has to invest back in the business. This is what sets them apart from their competition. If your contractor is able to negotiate a large sum this should raise red flags.
1. There was extra profit included on the job that wasn't necessary. Is this a person you can trust to partner with on a large financial business transaction?
2. The contractor is hurting for money and needs a deposit from a new job to pay for his last job. When there isn't enough money, corners start to get cut, sub contractors are forced to take less money. Everyone is in a hurry to get done with your job and move to the next more profitable job.
3. In rare cases a homeowner doesn’t care if the builder makes a reasonable profit or not. Unfortunately this usually ends bad for all parties involved.
So you have decided to use your favorite contractor and feel you’re not being overcharged, but the estimate is still out of budget. What do you do now? Talk to your builder. Most of the time, the price can be reduced with your selections. For example; a recent client wanted stone on their fireplace. They let us know the price was too high. SHR found an almost identical stone… for half the price. The client was thrilled, we got the job, and everyone was happy. A good builder has plenty of work and it won’t matter to them if you want get the price down. It needs to be done through the selection process usually, not by cutting a reasonable profit margin. Another option is getting a low interest loan, if it makes sense to keep the budget. Builders like Superior Home Renovations are already approved by lenders and make the process easy.
I hope these tips have helped when picking your builder/contractor. We are here to answer any questions you have, whether you use SHR or already have a contractor you love.
Cheers,
The SHR team