Zodiac of Contractors

Koontz - I LOVE your Zodiac Jodi!! It sounds quite accurate even from my perspective. Of course as I read it I needed to type myself-Fitting into the slot, or not, is always a funny ego boost, or not! My partner and I fall into the type E category pretty accurately...

I wish that I had enough experience with designers' to return the post...but I really don't-Being a type E, my partner thinks he's the designer, why hire yet another person?! (And I laugh as I see you cringe). I've learned through these posts that if you can find the right designer, you actually have the potential to improve your job significantly.

You have us down to a tee though, and it's a great post for clients to use for referencing who they should be looking for when hiring a contractor.

I am humbly impressed!

P.S.-Verbose? Arrogant? Temperamental? Who? Moi????

Hiring a Contractor? Use Jodi's Zodiac of Contractor Types

Fitzpatrick-Last month I went through the ordeal of hiring a contractor to build a concrete block fence on my property. I solicited the ubiquitous three estimates from three contractors I would consider hiring, and in the process, I noticed these three particular types of contractors resembled the same types of contractors I hire in my field. As an interior designer, I’m often in the (thankless) position of trying to match my clients with architects and remodeling contractors. If it’s a job where I’m observing a project on behalf of the client, I attempt to match an installer’s personality, style of work and fee with the clients to whom they are most suited. So here, for the edification and amusement of all, is Jodi’s Typological Zodiac of Contractors:

Type A is a sole proprietor or one-man/woman corporation; a maverick, a character, high-energy and charismatic, who will bend the rules and do favors, but never admits to any mistakes. His eye is firmly on the ball--the one with the dollar signs on it. He can’t afford to go out of business, as he could not work for anyone else:
Good Match: Other mavericks, people who long for a little excitement in their lives, people who play psychological games and are under the (usually mistaken) impression that they are controlling the Type A.
Bad Match: People who do things by the book.
Price Level: Generally on the high side.
Work Quality: Good to Shite Artiste. Type A rarely does excellent work; he’s too focused on the almighty buck.

Type B is actually two types; B-1 and B-2

B-1 is a reputable company with logos on their trucks and name badges on their workers. You will deal with an estimator, then a job superintendent and if anything goes wrong, the owner of the company. Their employees are legal, speak English and are often highly trained. The B-1 company is small, does high-quality work and doesn’t need to advertise; word-of-mouth and referrals give it more business than it can handle.
Good Match: Folks who likes things done right and will pay for it.
Bad Match: People who are looking for the lowest bid.
Price Level: High
Work Quality: High

B-2 is also a reputable company, but without the attention to detail of a B-2. They will also have an estimator, job super’, schedulers and the owner will be remote. Their employees may have papers, but their English is spotty as are their skills. B-2’s are often B-1’s who decided to grow, with a corresponding drop in quality of work, but now with more competitive pricing.
Good Match: People looking for a decent job at a competitive price.
Bad Match: Perfectionists.
Price Level: Mid to low
Work Quality: Passable

Type C is a commercial company who will do residential work, usually as a favor to one of their commercial clients or friends. These guys do can do great work, but they are blow-and-go, and if a larger commercial job is calling them, they will drop your small residential one as quickly as you can say “liquidated damages” (the fees commercial contractors incur if they don’t finish a job on schedule). They do residential work as a favor, and act accordingly, but they will be the fastest, if not the most thorough. Their workers are often union-trained and highly paid employees with benefits, or sub-contractors themselves with the incentive to finish your job quickly and with no call-back issues.
Good Match: Other professionals, especially building professionals.
Bad Match: Anyone expecting warm fuzzies and/or handholding.
Price Level: High
Work Quality: High to Good

Type D is an unlicensed guy from one of these company’s doing a “side job,” often for cash, on a weekend or day off. He has no insurance, no worker’s comp, so if he or one of his guys/friends is injured, he could come after your homeowner’s insurance for being hurt on your property. You have no leverage of complaint with him, but you are not, in California, required to pay him, because he is not licensed.
Good Match: None, except a personal injury attorney. But I do understand (but don’t condone) people in financial straights that really need something done hiring this guy.
Bad Match: Perfectionists, by-the-book folks.
Price Level: Mid to Low
Work Quality: Mid to Low (skilled workers are valuable and paid enough that they take their weekends).

Type E are the enlightened; the citizen/contractors who are educated and design sensitive. These folks are quirky dreamers, who take on work as they need it and only if they gel with the client. You can receive excellent as well as sub-par work from them, since they tend to be a tad arrogant and believe they can perform any trade. They may be verbose, though usually very charming. Easily offended and temperamental, they will always do the right thing by the client, and bring a great bottle of wine to the finish party.
Good Match: Other educated dreamers.
Bad Match: Time-sensitive professionals, bargain hunters.
Price Level: All over the map, but rarely the most expensive.
Work Quality: Excellent to Oh-I’ve-Always-Wanted-To-Try….

I can’t wait for Peg to weigh in on this….

Hiring a Contractor? Jodi Solicits Bids with Specifications

Fitzpatrick-So I’m hiring a contractor for a new block wall fence so I solicit three bids from three licensed contractors. The first thing I do is decide--in consultation with my neighbor--what materials we’re going to use and stick to them throughout the bidding process to ensure we get apples-to-apples bids. So remembering that I know interiors--not structures that sit out in the wind and sun all year--how do I know what materials we’re going to use? I researched, and then I guessed. Given that my neighbor and I have four Chow Chows between us (and always have, replacing the deceased with puppies in record time), and given we never want to attend the Inner Breed Smack Down again (see previous post), we chose concrete block as our fencing material; with the intent to face it with stone veneer or coat it with plaster or stucco in the future. Our specification read:

50 lineal feet of beige, split-faced concrete masonry fence block fencing, 6’ high, with footing and concrete fill.

Here’s what we learned on the first round of bids; beige was a special order color, requiring a lead time and possibly a set-up fee (depending which of our three victims…er…contractors that we spoke with) and split-faced--the textured block--was a third more than a smooth-faced block. So our next specification read:

50 lineal feet of gray, smooth-faced concrete masonry fence block fencing, 6’ high, with footing and concrete fill.

By now, we began to see who was going to be our low bidder and our high bidder. The middle guy we threw out because he was a Type A contractor and both of us are by-the-book types (covered in the next post). So we addressed our questions and revisions to these two and here’s what we added:

Concrete masonry fence cap (along the top, since the drawings we received showed the filling of the fence block rounded over and left exposed) and demolition and haul-away of the existing (such as it was) fence.

After a week of calling and faxing bids, we arrived at our winner:

55 lineal feet of gray, smooth-faced concrete masonry fence block fencing, 6’ high, with footing and concrete fill, concrete masonry top cap to match existing on back wall and demolition and haul-away of existing fence.

The bids came back. Contractor Type C was fully two times the price of Contractor Type B-2. See why in the next post….

Hiring a Contractor? Jodi Solicits Fence Bids

Fitzpatrick-Once in awhile, through lack of my own industry contacts or projects that involve the great outdoors, I’m forced to be a consumer of remodeling services; I have to hire a contractor. One I don't know. This happened last month when the wooden fence between my and my neighbor’s property breathed its last and fell over—allowing her two Chow Chow dogs and my two Chow Chow dogs a shot at the World Canine Association Inner-Breed Dominance Smack Down. (It was 1-1, btw).

Obviously the fence needed immediate replacement.; we needed to hire a contractor. But I’m an interior designer, my husband is a commercial carpet guy, and my neighbor is a professor of early childhood development at the local institution of highest learning—we don’t know no stinking fence contractors! I HATE it when I’m forced into the position my readers are in every day; knowing nothing about a trade, a material or an industry and having no connections therein. (This feeling is so loathsome that I’m compelled waste hours writing this blog, in a vain attempt to help folks feel .0001 degrees more informed about these situations.)

So I did what every other poor slob out there with a downed fence and two large Champion Smack Down dogs she can no longer exile outside would do: I solicited three bids for the work from three licensed contractors. None of whom I knew--holy Chow and honest to Dog. During this adventure, I made some observations about the five general types of contractors and businesses you can expect to find when you venture into the wilds of procuring remodeling work and have to hire contractors.

I went with Contractor Type B-2. But first let me tell you how we approached the bidding process….

Remodeling Your Writing? A Shameless Plug for the Yosemite Writers Conference

Fitzpatrick-That kitchen sounds fabulous Peg, and I’m expecting a tour. Yeah gads! Nine dogs? Well, that's another rare issue Peg and I agree on--we’re both dog people. You can read about four (not NINE!) dogs in the post after this one.

And if anyone has wondered how Peg and I came to work together (besides meeting at the SPCA or the local Pet Emporium) or how an interior designer and a contractor can coexist on the same blog and not short-circuit all of cyberspace; we have the Yosemite Writers Conference to thank. We met there two years ago this August, and the rest is… well…urban myth. So if any of you are aspiring writers and want to explore the craft and industry in a gorgeous setting with friendly encouraging people, check out the link here or at the right. It’s an excellent conference, and it might inspire you to start your own media empire, like we did. Muaahhaaahaa.

http://www.yosemitewriters.com/

The Movie

Koontz - The movie I obliquely referred to is called, Somethings Got To Give. I should double check that, and somewhere on the pile on my desk is my copy of the magazine that featured another replica of the kitchen. It's the kitchen in Diane Keatons' vacation home. Lord, I should probably also look up the spelling of her name!!!

But I'm not finding my magazine right away-so I'll double check the information when I clean-up.

It's a lovely kitchen; honed black granite for the counters, (and though I typically would fight a client installing granite in an older home; the honed variety fits right in), white cabinetry that rises to an eleven foot ceiling, (one of the few variations on the movie/ magazine kitchen, where it appears the ceilings are standard height---poor slobs)! Large windows with approrpiately wide trimwork. Client chose brushed stainless refrigerator, dishwasher, faucets and sink and the floor, which is a straight grain douglas fir, is being sanded by the client to achieve a dristressed finish. My flooring guy didn't want the job of sanding off the client's paint job on the floor because he didn't trust that she would be happy with the end result. He thought it needed to look new, and no amount of talking could convince him that was not the look the client wanted. Though she wants the kitchen to function like new, she wants it to fit in with the rest of her house. It will look perfect I think. Along with all the above, we also redid the lighting; installing both recessed, old-fashioned pendant lights and cabinetry and task lighting. We also re-worked the staircase that enters this kitchen from upstairs so that it replicated a simpler version of the fancy hand rail/ballistrats and newel posts from the front side of the house.

It's really a lovely room both for the house and for the family and I am happy to say that whether you enter the room a month after we're gone, or ten years, you won't ever be aware the room went through a remodel, it just fits that well.

Oh, and one of the dogs had puppies while I was away this weekend-so now we have NINE dogs! Yea Gods!

A Kitchen Straight from the Movies...What Movie?

Fitzpatrick-Okay, I can’t stand it. What kitchen in what movie?

Straight From The Movies

Koontz - We're just about done with a remodel job that has been quite a joy. We've worked with this client before, so that makes things comfortable, and they have a lovely, old, (built in 1901), house that they cherish and use well. Along with the parents', there are two teenagers, three dogs, one cat, one turtle, several fish in a pond along with bullfrogs and tadpoles and who knows what else. Quite the active abode.

We moved the wash area from the corner of the kitchen to the upstairs, renovated the downstairs bath, and are now finishing up the wifes' dream kitchen; which came right out of a movie set. My client has spent 20 years or so compiling a folder with pictures and notes regarding her dream kitchen and after several meetings, we put together a plan. A couple weeks into the job the client came across a magazine that featured a kitchen based on a design of a kitchen in a popular movie. My client saw that, and our plans took an unexpected segue...

Interestingly, the segue wasn't too far off the original plan compiled from the client's notebook. The new design incorporated all the elements she wanted, but she was able to see the cohesive whole, and she loved it. So back to the drawing board for a bit, and we've been using the movie and the magazine as our blueprint ever since. It's been a fun, if complicated job---but all our answers seem to be in the tiny little pictures of the magazine! We're close to finished-waiting on our granite guy, who was loathe to install what we requested, and seems to be trying to give us as much time to renege as he can!!! But the client is determined, it has to be like the movie! I think she'll love the space and I am anxious to sit down with my feet perched over the fish pond, petting the dogs and viewing our handi-work. If I'm really lucky, perhaps someone will be cooking dinner too!

P.S.-This was the job with the botched windows by the way. Windows still aren't right-they look lovely now that we've got them trimmed out, but operate poorly. A top brand, (that begins with a large "P"), that I don't ever want to be involved with again! The client, and we, think it will be the one disappointment on the job and we're all ready discussing how we can rebuild them!