Wednesday, August 09, 2006

10 things you don’t want your prospective General Contractor to do

Arrive at the first meeting in a brand new Porsche Cayenne.

Belittle town building inspectors and call the last one he worked with an “ass.”

Tell you your project timeline is unrealistic because he and his family are leaving next week for a month long vacation in Greece.

Assure you that, “When you build green, the details just work themselves out.”

At the appointed meeting time, place a call from 11 Arnold Street to say he's knocking on the door and why are you not answering? (Our house isn't on Arnold Street.)

When asked if ours is a larger than average size project for him, answer, “Nah, I once built a $5 million gas station.”

Show up to the first meeting red faced, sweaty and dressed in tennis whites.

When asked why the price for the work is so high, proclaim proudly, “This is Wellesley!”

Insist you throw pecuniary caution to the wind because every dollar spent on a kitchen renovation will certainly result in a return on that investment when you sell the house.

Estimate the cost of renovating the kitchen will cost you somewhere between an MIT professor and Boston Mayor Menino's yearly salary.

Some of these are annoyances, others are downright ridiculous. And yes, we've now experienced them all. The fact of the matter is that if we don’t find a contractor who is a good match for us soon, we're going to move into the house as is. And if we do that, then I’ll bet we won't update it for years since the prospect of doing so will only become more daunting. Please oh please Mr. Reliable-Reasonably Priced-Able-To-Work-Now-Contractor where are you? I really think our house can be great, we just need you to put hammer to nail.
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