What Your Contractor Can't Tell You : The Essential Guide to Building and Renovating

by Johnston, Amy

• ISBN13: 9780979983801
• ISBN10: 0979983800
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-01-01
• Publisher: Atlasbooks Dist Serv

Summary

What Your Contractor Can't Tell You is a comprehensive guide to getting the best results while building or renovating a home. Most homeowners spend about 20% of their time on the plan and 80% of their time on a messy, traumatic, expensive construction phase. Pros spend 80% of their time on the plan and 20% on a smooth construction phase. But the homeowners can't know what goes into a solid plan unless someone tells them. This book is based on a simple premise...if homeowners knew even 10% of what the professionals in the construction field know, they could avoid 90% of the problems. Creating a dream home shouldn't be a nightmare. Hiring a contractor is an enormous investment and a high-risk endeavor involving decisions that will last forever. This book equips homeowners with the information and strategies needed to turn their vision into a home or a renovation that can be built on time and within budget. Chapters give detailed coverage of critical topics: design; selecting and supervising the architect and contractor; cost estimates; budget; plan specifications; contracts; dealing with town officials; and keeping track of everything along the way. For each stage of the project, there is detailed information on common pitfalls and how to avoid them, as well as insiders' tips which reveal what most contractors can't tell you. This book was previously published by Warner Books (2004) and titled What the "Experts" May Not Tell You About Building or Renovating Your Home.

Author Biography

Amy Johnston is a Construction Manager and Owner's Representative based in Burlington, Vermont. She grew up renovating homes with her family and went on to build and renovate several of her own. For her clients, she has spent the last twenty years managing the design and construction or renovation of residential homes, affordable housing projects, historic downtown restorations and commercial spaces, totaling over a hundred buildings. As liaison between the parties on so many projects, Amy enjoys a unique perspective on the dynamics of successful design and construction. She is also the owner of Dreamhouse Institute,(dreamhouseinstitute.com), offering training seminars in construction management for both professionals and homeowners. It was her students in these seminars who insisted she write this book. Amy also speaks publicly on the topic and appears regularly on CNN's Open House.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Building from Smart to Finish	p. xiii
Ready, Set, Think: How the Savvy Owner Starts a Project	p. 1
The Mind-Set: How to Approach a Project	p. 1
The Players List: The People Who Will Be on Your Team	p. 4
A Gleam in Your Eye: Can You Build?	p. 8
Don't Bank On It: Is Your Loan Officer Your Ally?	p. 9
The Scary Money: Down Payments	p. 13
The Plan Is the Thing: Making a Successful Project	p. 14
Task-Oriented: Your To-Do List	p. 14
Getting What You Need: How to Approach Your Design	p. 15
Sneaking Up On Your Design: Do's and Don'ts to Get You Started	p. 18
What's It Worth to You? Money and Design	p. 20
Beyond Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo: A Formula for Balanced Choices	p. 21
A House United: Working Together as a Couple	p. 22
Design as a Noun: Refining and Conveying Your Vision	p. 24
Decisions, Decisions: Your Design	p. 24
Conveying Your Decisions: Construction Documents	p. 24
Building In Flexibility: Allowances, Unit Pricing and Alternate Pricing	p. 28
Help with Your Vision: When and How to Employ an Architect	p. 30
Do You Need a Professional? Considering an Architect	p. 30
The Yin to Your Yang: The Right Architect for You	p. 36
Everyone Pick Up Your #2 Pencils: Working with an Architect	p. 42
Bang for the Buck and the Sixteen Divisions: What Can You Have and What Should You Worry About?	p. 45
Divide and Conquer: The Sweet Sixteen Divisions	p. 45
The Devil's in the Details: Where to Focus Your Attention and Money	p. 46
And Another Thing: Considerations When Determining Materials and Scope of Work	p. 68
And the Grand Total Is...: Cost Estimating and the Budget	p. 72
Follow the Money: How It Works on a Construction Project	p. 72
Where'd You Get That Number? Four Methods of Cost Estimating	p. 73
Crunching Their Numbers: Assessing a Cost Estimate	p. 76
It's Alive! Your Budget as a Living Document	p. 78
Setting Up Your Deal: Contract Structures	p. 83
Who Knew You Had a Choice? Options for Contract Structures	p. 83
The Second Oldest Profession: Selecting and Working with a Contractor	p. 90
He Was Such a Nice Guy: Choosing More Wisely	p. 90
Welcome to His World: Working with a Contractor	p. 96
To Protect and Serve: Protecting Your Project and Serving Your Contractor	p. 98
How Low Can They Go? Bidding the Project	p. 104
You Talkin' to Me? Should You Bid Your Project?	p. 104
Package Deal: Getting Your Bid Package Together-the Four Elements	p. 105
Going Out: What You and They Need to Do-the Four Stages	p. 108
Cover Your Assets: Contracts, Insurance, Liens, and Other Commitments	p. 116
If You Only Knew: Where Laypeople Go Wrong	p. 116
Whose to Use? Construction Contracts	p. 117
Don't Build Home Without It: Must-Haves	p. 120
It Couldn't Hurt: Optional Additional Protection	p. 129
Believe It! Time Really Is Money: Schedules	p. 132
Tick Tock: How Time = Money on a Construction Project	p. 132
More Than One Way to Tell Time: Types of Schedules	p. 134
What Was That Other Thing? Additional Things to Track	p. 138
Mother, May I? Getting Through the Permit Process	p. 139
Nothing to Fear: Knowing the Process and Its Players	p. 139
People Pleasing: The Steps for Permit Approval	p. 142
Good to Go: Once You've Got the Permit	p. 147
Step Lightly: Making Changes to the Neighborhood	p. 148
Ready to Build?...Not So Fast: Pulling It All Together	p. 150
Just Like Santa: Make a List and Check It Twice	p. 150
Long Time No See: The Preconstruction Meeting	p. 151
Ensurance: Make Sure These Things Are Done	p. 153
When Are They Leaving?! Renovation Tips	p. 154
Let the Games Begin: Managing the Construction-Phase	p. 158
Who's on First: Establishing the Roles and Rules for All	p. 158
Watching the Store: Monitoring the Project	p. 164
For Richer or Poorer: Budget Management	p. 170
The Homestretch: Project Closeout	p. 181
Conclusion	p. 185
Talk the Talk: A Glossary of Terms	p. 187
Inspirations: Other Resources	p. 197
Index	p. 200
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.