The Contractor

The scariest part of any big remodeling project is choosing the contractor.  You hear so many horror stories about bad contractors that it really becomes a huge worry.  Is the contractor up to the job?  Will they get your down payment, start work and then move on the next "down payment"?  Are they using your money to finance their last project?  Will they cut corners on labor and materials?  Will they be onsite supervising?  Will they return your calls?  Are they low-balling the bid?  So many things could go wrong outside of the normal problems encountered in a major remodel.  Finding a good contractor is not necessarily easy but they are out there.

Please count the number of times we mention cost in this post.  Wanna guess?

We've chosen RHD Construction based in Garland, TX (http://www.rhdconstruction.com). The two main guys on our project are Pat Petino who is the president of RHD and Joseph Bratton who does all of the estimating, scheduling, permitting and who knows what else.

There were several reasons that we chose RHD:

First, is the fact that Ryan, our architect, already had a professional working relationship with RHD and a recommendation from a trusted source is huge. 

Second, they were the only ones that responded to each and every one of the three iterations of our bid without a complaint and in a timely manner.  Except for the first iteration, but there were extenuating circumstances with surgeries and key folks on vacation.  They have been very responsive otherwise.

Third, they do not ask for any money up front.  They invoice only as work items complete; for example after demo, after framing, etc.  We have yet to pay a red cent to them even though they are already getting things done, sending out subs, pulling permits, etc.  Actually our first payment will be for the AWA to widen the driveway... AWAs are invoiced as they occur.

Fourth, they were more than happy to work with us to save money by Andy wanting to do a lot of the finish work.  They had absolutely no problem with that.  In fact, they have been very accommodating on a number of requests.

Since we have a wedding coming up in Oct with a gaggle of folks from Switzerland descending on us, we asked if we could have a somewhat functional kitchen before the wedding.  They are going out of their way to make this happen.  They are even getting the city to do a partial inspection on the kitchen so they can close it up in time for Andy to do his work (install cabinets, appliances and get at least a temporary countertop installed) before the Swiss hordes descend.

Another example: Andy, being the nerdy kind of guy that he is, wants a lot extra A/V, data, speaker,etc wiring to some of the rooms.  They will drop one basic RG6 cable where specified in the plans but he will run all of the other cables himself.  No problem for them.. in fact, they will give him a heads-up to allow him some time to do that before they close up the walls and ceiling.

Another example:  The workshop (ie: garage) only has one electrical outlet which is not enough for all of Andy's power toys...um, tools.  So, they will run extra electrical wiring in the common wall between the garage and kitchen so he can punch through and add outlets when he gets a chance to compete his workshop.

Fifth,  We just plain like the guys.  Well, Monica hasn't met them yet, but Andy gets along well with them.

If you have a remodeling project and are interested in seeing how RHD performs feel free to follow along.  We will tell things simply as they are.  We expect that the road on a project like this will likely have a few bumps.  The real test of a contractor is in how they handle issues and the unexpected things that crop up.  At this point, we feel confident that RHD Construction will be great to work with.

By the way, RHD knows We're doing this blog and we have their permission to use their name.  That tells us that they are not afraid of folks looking over their shoulder, at least virtually, to see a real live remodeling project as it unfolds.