Outwitting Contractors : The Complete Guide to Surviving Your Home or Apartment Renovation

by Bill Adler Jr.

• ISBN13: 9781585742721
• ISBN10: 1585742724
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2001-06-01
• Publisher: Lyons Press

Summary

"Outwitting Contractors" offers invaluable practical information on how to deal effectively with architects, contractors, builders, laborers, and inspectors. Topics include negotiating contracts; determining who's responsible for what; and what to do when the bathtub won't fit through the bathroom door.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	xi
Surviving Your Renovation	1	(25)
Should You Use an Architect?	26	(23)
Contracts: Keeping Contractors Honest	49	(19)
How Much Should You Pay? (And Whom Should You Pay Off?)	68	(17)
The Permit Process (Or, Does the City Like the Color of Your Toilet?)	85	(8)
The General Contractor (How'd He Get Promoted to General, Anyway?)	93	(29)
Planning Ahead and Keeping to Your Plan	122	(23)
Preventing the Destruction of Your Floors, Antiques, Applicances, Lawns, and Other Valued Possessions	145	(16)
The People Who Do the Work: What They're Supposed to Do, Why They Don't Want to Do It, and How to Make Them Do It	161	(32)
Preventing Catastrophe	193	(23)
Solving Postremodeling Problems (Especially When You Don't Want the Same Clown Who Screwed Up in the First Place to Fix Things)	216	(15)
A Compendium of Sage Wisdom on Remodeling	231	(6)
Index	237