Your Involvement in a Project

Your involvement with a home remodeling contractor in the past was possibly through a recommendation or referral of a trusted friend. You now call this same contractor, since the original experience was so good, for a GREEN renovation project. Originally, your involvement was probably minimal for the contractor to replace your kitchen cabinets and counter top, for example.

Now you want to replace the worn wall-to-wall carpeting with bamboo flooring. You wonder how you may save some money by becoming involved. Some of your friends have described how easy some flooring is to install yourself.

No Contractor

The next best plan might be for you to do the entire project yourself. Perhaps you will ask a friend or two to help/assist. This plan assumes several physical and psychological traits you need:

• You have the necessary knowledge and experience to do the work safely.

• You have the necessary physical strength, stamina and energy level.

• You have the necessary personality to plan, organize and follow through.

• You have the necessary time available to research the project, to do the work, to complete the final touches and then cleanup.

• You have the necessary tools.

In this example, your involvement would preclude any contractor expense.

A Contractor Plus Your Involvement

All a professional contractor needs is tools, information and material to complete the work. If you check off all these logical items then completing this work yourself could be an option to keep open. What are the other options available?

The last way to plan to complete a project and save money is for you to do part of the work. This is the same as having different contractors completing their portion of the work in sequence for the project. This is an extreme example of jobsite coordination. You must not delay the contractor or you will have extra charge$.

Your Involvement but No Extra Charges!

You must not delay the contractor or you will expose yourself to an extra charge. I recommend you do not plan your work so the contractor is dependent on you for his progress. Also, it is best if you complete your part of the project before the contractor submits an estimate.

For example, the scope of work where you could have the furniture moved out of the work area and the existing carpet and carpet laying materials removed prior to calling the contractor(s) for an estimate you could save money. If you require the carpet be recycled, reused or sent to a landfill you could also do that and save yourself the contractor’s fee. You are best prepared when the contractor sees only his scope of work before he submits his estimate.

The next step in the process would be the research necessary to be able to ask questions about your GREEN remodeling.

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