You plan on working with contractors in Iowa City, Iowa soon but you've never had this experience before. As a result, you need to take several key steps to ensure that you get the best results. The following process is one that just about anybody can handle on their own. Make sure that you pay special attention to all of these steps to make sure that your professional builders are happy with you and to help focus them on your project in a way that ensures excellent results for you and them.
Make Communication Key
The first step in this process is to establish a working relationship and communication method between you and your contractors. This process requires you to set up multiple channels that are always open for discussion. These include having your contractor on your cell phone and being able to text or call them whenever you need. You should also create daily meetings to ensure things go smoothly between you and the many team members focused on building your project.
These daily meetings are a great idea because they let you see what is happening on the site and give the workers the chance to communicate with you as needed in case something goes wrong. Just as importantly, you can learn about the significant progress of your professionals and fully grasp what to expect when they are done with your extensive and high-quality project, including elements that may have to be tweaked before the project is over.
An onsite visit throughout the work period is also essential, mainly if you make them unannounced. This type of visit may surprise your builder but helps keep them focused on providing high-quality work. Just as importantly, it also ensures that everything goes well and keeps your workers focused on providing high-quality work that you deserve for the investment price.
Read Through The Allowances
Very few construction projects finish without there being some type of allowances required by your contractors. Allowances are items in a bid that discuss issues that haven't yet been decided or discussed by you and the builders. While you want to try to avoid these allowances whenever possible, you need to understand when they cannot be prevented and what you can do to minimize their impact.
For example, you should expect a precise listing of all of the materials and labor anticipated for the project. Allowances on these items are usually not acceptable unless the allowances are for emergency situations that haven't yet developed. Just as importantly, you need to make sure that your contractor is accurate with any allowed allowances to ensure that you don't spend too much money.
Allowed allowances are typically those that you cannot predict, such as the cost of fixing repairs and any errors that may occur. All budgets should have a few of these allowances as a way of protecting you and your contractor. Make sure that you work to eliminate these kinds of issues, though, to make sure that you can cut back on your prices and make the most money on your building project.
Track All Your Changes
As your project progresses through its many stages, there is a good chance that your contractors will need to change up a few things. This situation may be frustrating to many homeowners, but it is unavoidable – there comes a time when all projects have to be tweaked a little. However, you need to make sure that you track all of these changes as accurately as possible in this situation.
For example, you should get an explanation for these changes from the contractor, including a written estimation of how much they are going to cost. Make sure that your contractor either adds or adjusts the bill appropriately to suit these charges. In some cases, accidents caused by the builder that require you to change your building project are paid for either by them or their insurance policy. Most builders should have an insurance policy that helps to ensure that they don't spend too much on these common repair issues.
Make sure that you approve every change before it happens, including putting down your approval in writing. Getting everything in writing ensures that your contractor cannot back out of the situation or try to claim it was one way when it was another. Just as importantly, this creates a paper trail that you can utilize if you get stuck in a lawsuit situation that makes your building project impossible to finish. So make sure that you pay special attention to these elements to minimize this potential risk.
Be a Friendly and Accommodating Person
Although all the steps so far have been decided to help you, there are a few things that you need to do to protect your contractors. Key among these steps is working to be as friendly and accommodating as you can for their needs and doing what is necessary to ensure everything goes smoothly. This step has many different elements that all work together to protect your builder and ensure that they get great results for your building projects.
For example, if you owe them money for a project, you should pay them as soon as you can to ensure that they keep working. Often, building experts create a series of points in a project where they will need you to pay them. Make sure that you are only paying for items that they've finished, though, to ensure that you don't lose cash. When paying, do it on time and in full without making any excuses for your inability to pay.
Just as importantly, you need to take steps to ensure that they are comfortable during the building project. These steps include adding bathrooms to the site if necessary to keep them from renting porta-johns or other toilet types. You should also try to greet them in a friendly way and provide some snacks and drinks if you would like to keep them comfortable. Lastly, you should compliment great work and encourage them, as appropriate, to keep them adequately focused.
We Can Work Well With You
These simple tips will help keep your work smooth and efficient when you work with the best contractors Iowa City, Iowa has to offer. So please don't hesitate to contact us at Coohey Construction if you need construction help. Every day, our builders will work hard to ensure that you get the best results. Our experts have years of experience working with people like you and will work hard to finish your job on time and budget, with a smile on their faces.