A Cheaper Price for Home, Kitchen or Bathroom Remodeling or Improvement
You wound up here because you want a cheaper price. Unfortunately, the price of a job is tied to other aspects of the job which are also important to you. Here we will try to be brief and still give you the information you need to make an informed decision when selecting a contractor based upon price.
Selecting a Contractor based upon Price
First we are going to share some statistical information in chart form to try to make a couple of points. As we remodel more bathrooms and kitchens than anything else, and as the statistics (based upon our observations) are different for each, we will start with the bathrooms where there are fewer competent contractors by percentage:
Let us look at a chart where a homeowner selects ten contractors and obtains bids. It doesn't matter about the prices bid, but if you put them in order from the least to the highest, a chart might look like this example. Note that if you obtain ten bids and take the lowest bid, you have guaranteed that you will have an incompetent contractor working in your home. If you take one of the five highest bids, you probably have eliminated the totally incompetent contractors. Sometimes an incompetent contractor will provide a higher bid, and sometimes a competent contractor will provide a lower bid than an incompetent contractor, but in general, the incompetent contractors provide lower prices, so ignore this generality at your peril. This is why we say that the lowest bidder is the homeowner's enemy. In all of the charts below, "Completely Incompetent" means completely incompetent in key aspects of a remodeling project, not in all aspects of the project. Incompetence in a key aspect of a project means that there is such flaws that part or all of the work needs to be re-done. See About Us for some history of re-doing other contractor's work.
Most homeowners will not take the time to obtain ten bids, but they may possibly obtain three to five. Here we show the same information using three and six. Note that with just three bids, statistically only the highest bidder is not completely incompetent (will provide work that doesn't have to be re-done). If the only criteria we may use is price, we must choose the highest bidder in order to possibly select a competent contractor.
What we have learned from the above is that we must use other criteria in eliminating some of the contractors so that we have a likelier possibility of choosing a competent contractor. Before we look at other criteria, examine the kitchen examples below. As kitchen remodeling is not as challenging as bathroom remodeling, the percentage of incompetent contractors is less, but note that the lowest bidder is still not the correct solution.
The Minimum Additional Criteria to Select a Contractor
You may go through the Home Remodeling Process to completely check out your contractors. The following are the minimum criteria that you need to use.
- Bathroom Remodeling
- Licensed and Insured
- Bathroom Remodeling Experience and Integrity
- Kitchen Remodeling
- Licensed and Insured
- Kitchen Remodeling Experience and Integrity
Licenses
The Commonwealth of Virginia has different requirements for different licenses. If your project includes bathroom or kitchen remodeling, you need a contractor with a Class A or Class B license with a Building specialty classification. If your contractor has the correct license/classifications, the Commonwealth has to some extent levied certain requirements upon them to ascertain that they are qualified to work in your home. To find the licenses and specialty classifications held by a contractor, go through the Home Remodeling Process.
Insurance
If it is important to you that your contractor is insured, then you must be careful that your contractor has the correct license or licenses for the job. If you don't mind taking the risk that your contractor is going to bang on your house with no insurance, then any contracting license will do. The bottom line is that if your contractor doesn't use licensed specialty contractors then the contractor's insurance company will not stand behind the insurance while the contractor is working illegally in your home. In the Home Remodeling Process, we lead you through the logic to make sure that you hire the correct contractor or contractors.
Remodeling Experience and Integrity
See Bathroom Remodeling for bathroom remodeling experience and integrity.
The Lowest Bidder is the Homeowner's Enemy
We have found that many times the homeowner got in trouble in contractor selection because they selected the lowest bidder. Many times that has been the overriding single factor in contractor selection. This has led to the homeowner being cheated, or with a bathroom that had to be re-done. If you never hire the lowest bidder, that will eliminate 80% of the complaints you may otherwise have about a remodeling contractor. When you interview a contractor, look him in the eye and decide if you can trust him, and if he will stand by his work. Don't hire him if the answer is no. To check out a contractor properly, go through the Home, Kitchen & Bathroom Remodeling Process above. We wish you well in your remodeling project!