Late yesterday we received the last of the bids to complete our renovation/remodeling project.  We ended up meeting a lot of very experienced builders that we feel certain could handle and complete our project however we’re just going to focus on our Top 3 going forward.  We’ve met with one of them this past weekend and our plan is to meet with the other 2 over the long Labor Day weekend.  Hopefully we’ll get a better sense of their abilities, character, experience and dependability when we meet and as we’re contacting their references, but our other main goal is to discuss the plan in more detail and see if there are areas or ways to reduce the overall expense of the project to make it more justifiable. 

Also, our last contract was a fixed price contract however we’re starting to think that “cost-plus” might be more advantageous.  I’m planning on researching which is best before we commit, “cost-plus vs fixed price”, thoughts or advice?

Speaking of research, you can imagine that I’ve been trying to become better informed and/or more educated with hiring a contractor this time around.  Not really sure what we could have done different last time however I did read a ton of articles giving tips and advice when for hiring a general contractor.  See below some of the better ones:

• Single best article on how to select a general contractor http://www.hgtvremodels.com/home-systems/six-steps-to-vetting-contractors/index.html
• Good general article on things to keep in mind when considering a general contractor  http://www.houselogic.com/home-advice/contracting/general-contractor-secrets/
• Basic guidelines to follow  http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20539027,00.html
• Even though this is focused on kitchen remodels this still has some good info  http://www.hgtvremodels.com/kitchens/how-to-hire-contractors-for-a-kitchen-remodel/index.html
• Informative video on questions to ask when considering a general contractor   http://www.hgtvremodels.com/video/quick-tips-questions-to-ask-video/index.html
• Another great article on questions to ask the GC before you commit  http://blog.doorfly.com/articles/2011/10-questions-to-ask-before-hiring-a-contractor/
• Scams and how to avoid them – unfortunately 2 or 3 of them sound recently familiar  http://www.houselogic.com/home-advice/contracting/top-5-contractor-scams-and-how-avoid-them/

After you’ve completed your homework and have implemented all of the necessary steps, asked all of the right questions and have covered all of your bases remember the most important one – Pray.  Pray that you’ll make the correct decision and if for some reason  you find yourself stuck in an ugly situation, that eventually the best will become of it.