Exploring Options for uising a General Contractor for a kitchen remodel?
Question:We are considering a kitchen remodel. We've hired a general contractor and a kitchen designer for the DESIGN PHASE (a seperate agreement will be presented for the BUILD PHASE). We would like to explore other paths in lieu of hiring a GC.
We are interested in hearing from homeowners who have done kitchen remodels as to the options they pursued? How many served as their own GC's? How did that go? How many worked with the local home center for cabinets, floors, etc and left the structural stuff to someone else? How did that work? We're not interested in being our own GC, but there has got to be a less expensive way! We're making quality decisions and downgrading OUR choices for OUR kitchen just to pay the GC's fee and overhead costs. For example, we did all the work to select over $10K worth of appliances (which will be delivered and installed) and the GC will stand to earn quite a bit for what appears little work (enough for another appliance). Are there any other options?
Answers:
best thing is go to places research your materials price them out & compair prices through differant places to save money, then go home measure then measure again! sometimes sandpaper, new paint & hardwear, with some ellbow grease goes a long way man save alot of money to then you can buy new appliances lol to go with new look!
You should have only hired the designer first. They design and discuss with you your options, and usually provide drawings which is typically what you are paying for. They will also usually have a couple of contractors they work with and can vouch for. Use your drawings like you would with blue-prints. Offer several contractors the opportunity to bid on these drawings. Then and only then would you need to hire a contractor to build you kitchen. So far you hired a contractor to hire a designer for you, or worse hired a contractor to stand there doing nothing while the designer designs. Remember, bids and consultations from reputable companies are free. They want the contract, and will do alot for free, selling themselves to YOU!
A general contractor is there to coordinate (and hire) the electricians, plumbers, case wrights (cabinet builders), etc. The fact that you are making 'quality' decisions is not taking on a GC's duties. A GC takes the decisions that you've made and ensures that they are realized. His price should have nothing to do with the cost of the materials involved, unless he is doing it on a 'cost plus' basis.
Cost plus means that he charges you for his costs (labor and material) plus a percentage of those. If he's charging you cost plus 10%, everything you buy will cost you 10% more, plus the cost to install it. A $100 faucet will cost you $110 plus the one hour of labor from the plumber, plus 10% of the labor cost. If the plumber charges $40/hr, then that faucet would cost $100 for the faucet, $10 for the contractor, $40 for the plumber, plus $4 for the contractor. Total=$154. For that price, you get to point to a picture in a catalog, rather than going to the store yourself. The contractor is responsible for seeing that the faucet gets to your house. That's where he makes his money.
That's also where designers gouge you. They base their fees on a percentge of the cost of the project, so if you buy a $200 faucet over a $100 faucet, they make more money. This fee is entirely negotiable. Don't pay architects or designers based on the cost of the project. They shouldn't make more because you chose a higher priced fixture.
A GC is money well-spent if you don't know construction. They are your guarantee that the work will be done right. Otherwise, they have to come back and fix it.
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