7 Tips for selecting a contractor
This article is part of The Second Studio Podcast hosted by FAME Architecture & Design.
Sanctuary House by Feldman Architecture - Photography ©JoeFletcher
#1
A contractor who is willing to innovate
DL: Today we're talking about five, actually it ended up being seven, tips for selecting the right contractor. This applies I think to remodels and ground-up construction.
MB: The first thing I would say that a contractor should have as a quality is to be willing to innovate.
DL: This is interesting because it's not the first thing most clients would think about but the willingness to innovate is particularly important If you're doing a home that you really care about or you're doing a home that is custom and therefore a little bit different than everyone else's. The reason why you want a contractor who is willing to innovate is that that kind of design means that they will have to, at some point in the project, and maybe in a lot of points, build something that they've not built exactly that way before. The thing itself will be different than before always, and the specific means and methods it takes to get there might also have to change to achieve the design.
MB: That's also probably much more common for modern contemporary architecture rather than traditional, where you're basically just playing with elements of an architectural language when in modern contemporary architecture, there are many more possibilities. We're not just playing with existing components, we are sometimes even creating the components.
DL: It's not to say that traditional or classical or other style is easy, it’s not, it's difficult in a different way. I think especially when you're talking about modern homes and they are meant to be different and unique, you need everyone to have the same mindset. You need everyone, including the client, to be interested in doing that kind of work. The worst thing that we can hear from a contractor when we're interviewing them for this type of project, or already in construction sometimes, is they say, “Well, that's not how I work. That's not what I do, so I'm not going do it that way”. That's not a great way to problem-solve whatever the issue is. It's not a great way to teamwork. It's this complete opposite mindset of what you need to have to do custom homes. You need to be like, “This is interesting. Never done it that way before. This is going to be challenging. Let's figure it out”. They need to be excited about it. You want somebody who's like, “Yes, I like doing things that are challenging. I like problem-solving. Let's see what we can do here to make it efficient”.
MB: I don't like to make generalizations, but somehow it resonates with how much passion they have for doing what they do. If you hire a contractor who only does it for the money, for the business, they're not interested in trying to figure out or innovate. That's not their business model, that's not their mindset. But if you are hiring somebody whose life and education is to build beautiful things, and like they really put the craft, the time, the expertise into it, what they care about is the end results and how to get there, then that's the person you want on your team.
DL: You mentioned the phrase “business model”, and that's super important because if you look at a contractors' portfolio, they mostly just do the same thing over and over and over again, which is fine that's what some people do, the same thing with architects, but then when you try to to do something different, it, it's not going work. You have to have the right pairing. So if your architect is going to push boundaries for you to do something bold and unique and all those kinds of things, and the contractor comes from a background where that's not what they do, that's not their business model, it's not the right fit. You can also make a delineation between the typical contractor and a high-end contractor.
Typical contractors, their business model is more like, “I repeat the same process. I bang it out, you know, it's Type V framing. I know this is the process we do, I've done it a million times and I can only tweak the project by like 2% every time, but I can be fast and cheap and all these other things because it's the same". If you're interviewing someone like that and they put a bid on the project and you have another contractor who's high-end and does custom homes, they're going to be more expensive, in that case for good reasons. They know what it takes to do something different, that's a rarer type of contractor because there are fewer custom homes than there are spec homes.
MB: That’s where it's very important when you are about to choose your contractor and if you've reached out and chosen your architect, to ask input and advice from your architect as to who would be best suited to be the contractor for this particular project. Too many times we see clients who hire the contractor first and then, find the architect. When the project is designed, everybody realizes that that's not the right fit. The contractor is not the best person to build that type of design and project. As a client, you are not expected to know which contractor you should go with. So I think asking for feedback and input from the architect makes the most sense.
#2
A contractor who is trustworthy
DL: The next point that's important is obviously they have to be trustworthy. This is a basic thing, but it's absolutely critical. First of all, during construction, their team is going to be on the site, let's say five days a week for two years. Most of the time the architect is not going to be there and the client is also not going to be there. The architect will visit the site depending on the phase, but say roughly once a week, to check on things, to see how it's going, and to make sure that the house's being built as per the design that was created. That's only once a week on average, and the client will probably visit around the same amount of time, maybe even less.
So for the majority of the time, you have this whole crew of people and subcontractors you don't know, you're never going to meet and you just got to trust that they're doing quality work and trust that their leader, the site super, is leading them correctly. This becomes extra important, especially when during construction, things get stressful as they will and they do. You have to trust that the builder's not going to cut corners to shave off on the schedule because they've gotten a bit behind or do X, Y, or Z.
MB: One way to maybe check that they are trustworthy before you get to the point of them building your house is, like we said previously on another episode, to do your homework. Go see some of the projects that they've done, go talk to previous clients of theirs, and look online if they have reviews.
DL: A big one is to talk to other professionals. I would talk to your architect if you trust your architect, your trust as to start somewhere. That's a challenging thing but as you have an architect, you trust, listen to that person and listen to other professionals. I think that, as we said in another recording, we often hear “Oh, my neighbor uses this contractor, it worked out well. I just want to use them”. That is not enough research, and I'm sure your neighbor’s a smart person, but your neighbor's not a building expert.
MB: Each project is different. It doesn't mean that this contractor is accustomed to working with an architect. There are many layers as to which person is best suited for the job, and a referral can go a long way, but I think there is a lot of homework and research you have to do on your own to make sure that it's working out. Architects work on many projects. They work with many different contractors. They know a lot about their working relationship. Besides being a nice guy that they see once a week on-site, they actually know how they work internally to get the stuff done which I think is the most important.
DL: This is also where the interview process is critical. I would always have the architect present and heavily part, if not leading, the interview process because they're the ones that are going to be able to ask specific questions, which will allow them to know with a greater degree of accuracy whether or not this contractor is good for the job. Specific things which the client wouldn't be able to ask.
MB: Especially, let's say if you're reviewing bids from three different contractors you've reached out to. I think having someone who knows how to read those bids and asks questions to understand those prices is a strong advantage.
DL: A hundred percent. Clients are always looking at the bottom line, right? You're going to look at the bottom line and be like, “Well those guys are the most expensive, middle, expensive, least expensive”. And of course, that's a fact that exists but that is also one tiny part of the entire piece of it.
MB: I think looking at the contractor’s bid also tells you in some ways if you can trust them. In the way that they're presenting things to you, in the way that they're describing and pricing things. Having again an architect look at that could give you a pretty clear reading of what that proposal is actually telling about them.
DL: Absolutely. Not to get too off-topic, but talking about bids, you know, if you have one contractor who's really lower than the others, well obviously that's typically a red flag. The thing that happens with bids is that if you're doing a custom home, oftentimes the contractors who seem a little bit too expensive, it's because they're actually the ones being really thorough and they're giving a bid that's more accurate. The others are kind of glossing over stuff real quick. We’ll give contractors a set of construction documents, it could be quite hefty. They have to go through it and then figure out how much things are going to cost to build based on all its information. Obviously, as you can imagine, let's say you have a construction document set of 80 pages, the contractor looks at every single page and says, “Okay, this is the square footage, this is the line item. This is how much it's gonna cost”. They're going to come up with a number that's going to be sizable. Probably, someone who's going to go through it quickly, their number is not going to be able to cover all of those details because they just flip through it. It's a complicated thing, but a lot of these things you don't have to understand as a client necessarily, but maybe be aware of it. It goes back to what you were saying about relying on the architect to look at these things and inform the client one way or the other.
#3
A contractor who is knowledgeable
MB: The other point is I think finding a contractor who is knowledgeable, an expert. When we say that, I think it's much more into what kind of architecture you're trained to get in the end. As we talked about before, if you build a traditional home, it's very different than building a modern home. In a traditional home, you can hide mistakes behind trims and fillers that are architectural ornamentation. To hide things in modern homes, there is no room for mistakes, everything's going to show so you need someone who's an expert at building that kind of architecture because it's a learning curve. Even the really good ones have been doing it for many years, they've acquired that craft and that expertise the same way the guys who build traditional homes have.
DL: It is really hard and there are some general contractors who do both. It's a little bit less common. So it's not to say you can't hire someone who does both, but it's difficult to impart this knowledge to a client. You were talking about styles, that's absolutely true for modern design. If you find a contractor who does mostly traditional and has done one or two modern houses, that’s risky.
MB: I think about it as if you were going to go pick a hairdresser. If you have very straight thin hair or you have extremely curly hair, you could go to one that does both, but the chances of it being the best haircut of your life is really small. Rather than if you go to the person who's an expert in those crazy curls.
DL: This also applies to I think even remodels versus ground-up. A lot of contractors, good ones, have different teams depending on what the scope is because doing remodeling work is a very different thing from doing a ground-up home. Actually, it's amazing how different it is and how much more complex it is often. I think going with the contractor who has the right knowledge for the project you're doing, why would you do it any other way? It's funny because we often preach about teamwork and finding someone that you get along with and is trustworthy and all the attitude of the person they're willing to innovate and whatnot. That's all great but fundamentally if you don't have the expertise, then you don't want to toy around with that.
This notion of expertise is a little bit different between builders and designers. The builder has to have specific expertise in this thing, modern residential or modern remodels. A designer would also be within the scope of modern, but a designer's expertise is their ability to be diverse in their thinking and be much more creative and think outside the box. It's a different set of expertise. When it comes to builders, I would go with the one who has a portfolio and has done that type of innovative project before.
MB: I think it just guarantees a better turnout in the end. Otherwise, you're kind of gambling that it might work well. But if you can just go with the guy who's going to give you what you want, just do that.
#4
A contractor who keeps their cool
DL: The fourth point is you want a contractor that's cool when things are not going as planned.
MB: It's a sad truth and any client, any designer, any builder who's gone through a project knows that at some point something goes wrong. It could be on the smaller scale, it could be on the huge scale, really depends but in this situation, I think you want someone who's extremely professional, very tempered, that keeps their cool, that doesn't panic, that doesn't freak out or start pointing fingers or getting angry. You want someone who's calm enough, that can manage the crisis without transferring their stress to everyone else involved in the project. Because we all know that that kind of mindset doesn't bring anything good in the end, and if there is an issue happening that's already something bad happening, we don't need to add to it.
DL: I agree entirely, being calm, and cool throughout the process. This is a quality that applies to everybody, not just the contractor. The contractor has to be that way. The architect needs to be that way. The client also needs to be that way, that is one of their responsibilities. Having a successful project is about having the right skill set and expertise, but it's also equally or even more so about how are we going to deal with these problems when they come. How are we going to work together to solve them? That's a different thing. You could have all the knowledge in the world, and you could be that kind of person, but if you come across a problem you don't know how to solve and you freak out, I don't want to work with that person. I don't care how much they know.
#5
A contractor who values design
DL: The fifth tip for selecting the right contractor is to find one who values design. Obviously from an architect's perspective, quality is maybe the most important thing in a sense and having a contractor who values design is at the top of my list. This doesn't mean that the contractor is a designer, absolutely not. It does not mean that the contractor is going to have any design authority or input, that’s not what it means at all. What it means is that they are invested at a fundamental level, they love the design and they love building great design and they value it, therefore, they value the architect's work.
It tends to be that if a contractor has that belief system within them, a lot of other things are taken care of like communication is more or less solved because they just want that great product. Trustworthiness is solved because they're going to care about quality. The friction that might occur between architect and contractor, which does take place because they just inherently do sometimes, will also be addressed because we're all on the same page in terms of what we're going toward. It's when I think you have a contractor who doesn't value design in that way, when things go wrong, that's when shortcuts start to be taken or they start changing stuff and it gets into weird territory.
MB: It just means that their priority or interest is either their schedule or the cost of things, or how much effort is it going to take to do this versus that. In the end, it's not so much to your advantage, it's just to their agenda, which is not something that you want. One way maybe to figure that out before you hire a contractor would be let's say you're planning to remodel your house and you are inviting one contractor to come over to your house. You walk him through the house to show him what you're thinking of doing. I would say that the types of contractors that value design, will probably recommend you talk to a designer before they start spewing ideas about what you should be doing. The ones that are telling you what you should be doing, what they're telling you might honestly just be the first thought that comes to their mind to address that question and that's not what design is about. It's not about picking the first solution that comes to mind.
DL: Absolutely. This is not to say, it's not to draw a line in the sand and say, we're architects and they're contractors, we do this, you don't do it and you do that. It's about having mutual respect for what everyone does. I only want to work with builders who know their profession really well, and I'm going to rely on them for their expertise. We're going to work through it together. It's the same thing as finding the right contractor. When you're operating at a higher tier and it's a custom home in particular, if you're talking to a contractor first before an architect, that's fine. But if that contractor starts spewing out design ideas, that is a major red flag.
#6
A contractor who works well with the architect
DL: This also leads to a sixth point, a bonus point. You want to go with a contractor who works well with the architect you've selected and vice versa. It's important for you, the client, to have some kind of rapport and resonate with the contractor's personality. But you're not the professional co-building or co-designing and co-working with them to solve things, the architect's going to have to do that. So if you find a contractor that you resonate with, but your architect doesn't, I would think twice about that pairing. When it comes down to it, these are the people who are going to do the work to save you money, make it high quality, make it on schedule, all those things, you're not really involved. You're involved at a high level of saying, “Yeah, it sounds good to me” but beyond that, it's these two folks that have to work together as a team. So going back to the idea of building a team, the contractor and architect need to get along.
#7
A contractor who is organized
DL: The last point, your contractor needs to be organized. They need to be very organized, you cannot work with a contractor who is not, especially if you're doing ground-up houses and they're custom. Forget about it, there's no way that if you have a contractor who doesn't use certain systems, isn't on top of their stuff, or doesn't have a certain number of staff to different positions, that it’s going to turn out well.
MB: Well, it comes down to, the scope of the work, the budget, or the complexity of the project. If you're doing a bathroom remodel, it might be okay, you might be fine doing that. If you're doing a 10,000-square-foot custom home, probably not a good idea.
DL: Even 2000 square feet, it's meant to be nice. You've got to be organized. There's this tendency that at the beginning of the project, clients are excited too and think “let's just go, let's just see what happens”. That is the complete opposite mindset of good design planning and preconstruction, which is the phase before construction. The contractors call it pre-con. We don't want to just wing it and see how it goes. We want everything to be organized and ordered because again, a house takes 18 months, two years, and three years. You cannot be unorganized with a project for that long. It just doesn't work.
MB: You get a lot of people in the team and you have a lot of things you have to keep track of and it's a lot.
DL: One of the contractors we know, they have a sample document list which they mostly share with other professionals when they're being interviewed by architects, everything from budgets, some schedules, and meeting notes. They show exactly what's going to happen and how, and it's super thorough and detailed. It takes time to do that stuff, but again being organized, as everyone knows, if you do that correctly, it's going to save you time and money in the end, even though it requires you to be very diligent.