The following article was written by a contractor with 20 years of experience. Having contracted jobs from over two hundred homeowners in five different cities, his advice suggests some things that you can to do to prevent things like confusion and conflicts on the job. Although we never enter into an agreement believing things will go wrong or turn sour, things happen and have the potential of unnecessarily creating a bad working relationship. Hopefully the following hints will help you help your contractor do the best job that he or she can do.
1. Resist the urge to talk to your contractor about things that aren't related to the job. Because your hired contractor has so many things on his mind and a set deadline to meet, irrelevant chatter is nothing more than distracting and a waste of time. This doesn't mean that your contractor is a grouch or has no interest in you as a homeowner. In fact, some of the conversations that you have with him will shed some light on the problems that you're trying to solve with your home improvement project. But it really isn't necessary that he or she know where you graduated, or where you'll go on vacation five years from now. Conversations like these are better served at a time when your contractor is off the job, has a little time to spare, and is invited to your home as a guest - not an employee.
2. Don't tell your contractor how to do the job or offer to help. Even if you think what you have to offer or suggest is helpful, your contractor knows best. Contractors have spent years in trade school and years of training-on-the-job and they already know what they're doing - else they wouldn't be on the job. (We promise!) We don't believe you would like it if your boss or another co-worker (especially one without the skills that you have) told you how to do your job at work, would you? Nah! So please extend the same courtesy and trust that your contractor will fulfill your contract exactly as stated.
Besides, problems could occur if your contractor follows your advice or accepts your help - and you later discover that your advice is the cause of a failed installation. In a court situation, you could be found at fault for interfering.
3. Don't ask for more than what's contracted. If you discover that you'd like additional work, don't try to squeeze in more work than the labor that your contractor is already performing. You must remember that your contractor is only legally bound to perform the work outlined in your contract. Anything more requires another contract.
4. Be polite and extend the same courtesy to your contractor that you would extend to anyone else. Your home improvement contractor is not your servant (not that you should disrespect your servant either)! The point is that your behavior can affect the way that your contractor behaves toward you. And if you want to help to create a working environment that's pleasant to everyone involved, have respect for your contractor and the hard work that he's accomplishing. In return, you'll not only get a perfect job, you'll get an excellent resource for other work that you'd like to have done!
