10 mistakes to avoid when hiring a contractor

Remodeling can be a minefield. On popular home-makeover TV shows, everything leads to a happy ending. But in real life, working with contractors doesn’t always yield picture-perfect results.

Yelper Elvin C. of Los Angeles discovered this on a recent bathroom remodel project. “It started off well but changed once [the contractor] had my money,” he explains. “Workers either showed up late or didn’t show up at all. They wouldn’t return calls or tell me anything about the completion of [my] project. Bad workmanship forced me to hire others to fix.” 

You may have heard—or experienced—horror stories like this. Other common scenarios include projects that triple in cost and completion time, remodels that require a total redo because of shoddy workmanship, and contractors who flee the scene before work is done.  

More often than not, the contractor gets blamed when things go wrong. But it isn’t always their fault. Homeowners also fall down on the job by failing to communicate project requirements, making unreasonable demands, or expecting last-minute changes to be done easily and cheaply. 

If you’re taking on a major home-improvement project, there are key steps to heading off problems. Learn how to avoid these 10 major mistakes, and get the results you expect.

Some homeowners fail to properly vet prospective contractors before hiring them. They’re either too busy to do the research, or don’t know how to qualify the prospects. Instead, they’ll hire a contracting company that sticks a flier in their mailbox or advertises in the local newspaper.

This is a critical error. You can end up with a contractor who’s unqualified, irresponsible, dishonest, or simply unpleasant. And once work begins, you’re usually stuck with that contractor for the duration.

Fact is, hiring a good contractor is the most critical step for a successful remodel. The key is finding someone who’s licensed, fully insured, experienced, talented, trustworthy, and sensitive to your needs. Someone who lacks these traits will probably bring headaches later. 

Start your search for a great contractor by asking neighbors and friends for referrals—someone they loved working with, and who did a great job. Search online reviews, and view photos of projects completed by contractors in your area.

When you’re interviewing a contractor, make sure you find out about their histories, practices, and work styles. Unhappy surprises about a company can lead to friction later on. Will you wake up to the scream of power saws at 8 a.m. or have a dumpster blocking your driveway midday? It pays to discuss the details in advance.

“We always provide our clients with a detailed idea of what the process is going to look like,” notes Andrew Walker, co-owner of The Heartland Builders in Indianapolis.

Be sure to ask:

A big mistake is to hire the first contractor who bids on your project. This happens when homeowners are in a rush to get their remodel started, or don’t know how to find other prospective contractors. 

It’s important to get at least 3 bids so you can compare prices and characteristics of the candidates. If you cut this process short, you could end up spending far more time and money later. 

“We found a reliable company that was upfront and honest with us from the start, [providing] a breakdown of the job and total cost,” says Southern California Yelp reviewer Frank L. of MK Builders. “Hiring MK was not the cheapest; they did, however, give me the most peace of mind [and] everything was done nicely.” 

For any contractor you’re strongly considering, ask for a list of references, then call former clients to see if they were happy with the process and results. Get details about any problems they may have had. 

When you think you’ve found the right contractor, check his or her background through the state consumer protection office. If possible, also visit an active job site run by the contractor to check for signs of organization and professionalism.

Contractors need well-drawn, workable plans, which means a competent architect or designer is part of the process. Unfortunately, homeowners sometimes leapfrog the design stage, because they don’t want to shell out $3,000 or more (up to 15% of the project’s total cost) for those plans. Or they hire someone who can draw up blueprints but has no design or construction experience.

The project—at best—will lack the professionalism of a trained architect or designer. At worst, it can end in a complete design disaster that costs thousands of extra dollars in wasted time and materials. 

“It costs just as much, if not more, to do a poorly designed remodel as it does to do a well-designed one,” says home-improvement expert Don Vandervort of HomeTips.com. “Hire a really good architect or designer if you want a knockout result.”

Another option is to go with what’s called a design-build contractor, who can consolidate the design and building into a single package deal. The downside is that you may have less opportunity to vet the skills of the architect or designer on their staff. 

If a builder asks you to apply for the building permit, or forgo getting necessary altogether, it’s a red flag. The builder either isn’t licensed as a general contractor in your state or doesn’t want their work scrutinized by the local building department. 

On the other hand, some homeowners skip getting permits to avoid fees, bureaucracy, delays, and cost of oversight by city officials. That’s also a major misstep.

Among the problems this can create: You won’t be protected by city inspections that check to see that the work is safe and compliant with building codes. Unpermitted improvements also cloud the future sale of your house—real estate contracts usually require disclosure of work done without a permit or risk a lawsuit.

What’s more, “bootlegging” a job without a permit usually gets discovered. You’ll need to re-do the job anyway and may get hit with hefty fines.

Some jobs don’t need a permit—these tend to be repairs and improvements that are done within the original layout and don’t require changes to structure, electrical, plumbing, or other equipment. The only way to know for sure is for you or the contractor to call the city building department and ask.

If you don’t have a solid, fair, legal contract in writing, you’re asking for trouble. Memories can shift as a project evolves. Without a written record, it’s one person’s word against the other’s in a dispute.

Your building contract is the legal document that memorializes all the conditions of your agreement. Be sure it includes these details:

Contracts that cover these points are available online through document services such as LegalZoom. Even better, hire an attorney who’s experienced in construction contract law.

“Change orders”—that is, change requests from the original plans—can vastly increase the cost of a remodeling project. When you add to, or subtract from, work to be done, the general contractor will typically prepare a written estimate for the additional work. Because they’re not bidding against a competitor for the job, your costs may be higher than if you’d requested it at the beginning.

Change orders usually happen because homeowners change their minds after construction is underway. For example, they see the opportunity for a great view if a window is moved. Or the architectural plans don’t match the realities of construction because measurements differ. Or, when the cabinets arrive, they don’t fit. 

This is why it’s critically important to have professional plans from a qualified architect or designer, and make every effort to envision the results when reviewing the plans. Then, during construction, avoid the temptation to fall into the “What if we do this differently?” trap—unless you have a very healthy budget. 

It’s very rare for a remodel to go smoothly. Houses are complex, and the business of taking them apart and putting them back together can be complicated, confounding, and full of nasty surprises. 

Experienced remodelers quip that no matter how well you plan, it’ll take twice as long and cost twice as much. That’s an exaggeration, but it’s based on the truth. 

You don’t want to run out of money before the project is finished. But setbacks and surprises—such as mold or dry rot, appliance delivery delays, and escalating change orders—are budget killers. Be prepared with a plan for emergency funds, if you need them.

You need to keep an eye on what’s happening during construction, so stay close by. Homeowners have been known to take a brief vacation during a home-improvement project, only to return to something that looks very different than what they intended. 

Regardless of whether it’s a modest kitchen remodel or a larger project, the construction phase is where your ideas and plans become reality. So visit the job site regularly—preferably before or after work hours so you don’t interrupt workers or endanger yourself. Ask questions if something looks different from what you expected.

Don’t expect the local building inspector to validate the quality of your contractor’s work. Their job is to make sure the structure meets building codes, the plumbing has been properly installed, and the electrical wiring is safe. But they won’t tell you the flooring installer put the wrong stain on the wood floors, point out that the tile grout is off-color, or criticize poorly joined window moldings. Those are all things that you—or an advocate, such as your architect—will need to catch.

Homeowners have another important role in a remodel: making decisions about the materials, fixtures, and finishes to be used. Many key elements, such as flooring and cabinets, need to be ordered early. If they haven’t arrived on site by the time they’re needed, progress can grind to a halt. 

In some cases, homeowners choose (or even buy) the flooring, tile, sinks, and cabinets before they’ve hired a contractor. That way, these choices can be factored into both the contract and design, and building progress won’t be slowed by late decisions or delivery. 

Like many contractors, Andrew Walker of The Heartland Builders asks homeowners to pick out all their materials before construction starts. “The only time there’s any type of clarifying [during the process] is with paint,” he says. “That’s because what it looks like on a color wheel can be different than what it looks like on a natural wall.“

If your contractor has questions about design details during the construction process—whether it’s paint colors or how you’d like grout lines in the shower tile to align—you should be available to answer them right away. Otherwise, they may make decisions you aren’t happy with. Most will be reluctant to proceed if a major decision is needed.

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