Contractors: Guide to managing building contractors

When renovating or building a new home, at some point you will need to call upon the help of professional contractors. The current boom in renovating in Australia makes finding and managing good building contractors even more challenging. Managing contractors efficiently will ensure that you create good working relationships with them and get the result that you want in the shortest time and for the best price possible.

Management of building contractors

There are several ways of managing contractors. One is to hire a building contractor who will oversee the entire project. The other is to hire individual contractors for each part of the job; electrician, a plumber, carpenter. Both have advantages.

Hiring a building contractor to manage the entire project is the simplest approach. It cuts down on the time that you will need to put into ringing, interviewing, organising, getting quotes, checking references, and the other steps required to organise a reliable contractor. Building contractors will have their own tradespeople to whom they sub contract work (they pay these tradespeople for their services, then charge you for it within the cost of the entire project). These subcontractors should be reliable, as the builder's reputation depends on the quality of their work.

The disadvantage of this approach is that you lose control over who works on your project. While most builders will only use quality contractors, you have no way of being guaranteed of this. Also, the finish times and quotes of the builder are dependant on the work of the sub contractors. A reputable builder should allow you to check out the contractors they use.

The other option is to simply put in the time and hire contractors individually. The advantage here is that you retain control over who works on your project.

Managing contractors effectively

If you choose to hire contractors individually, consider some tips.

• Choose carefully; put in the time to ring several contractors for each job you have, interview them and get solid quotes
• Have a fixed price in mind, and stick to it. Decide on a timeline and negotiate with contractors
• To improve your chances of finding contractors sooner, advertise for someone to do your job. You may find someone between jobs or with a cancelled contract
• Draw up written contracts with each person, ensuring that they contain all elements that are important to you
• Ensure that contractors will be willing to communicate with each other, and gain their advice on which aspect of the job needs to be finished in what order (the electrician may be unable to do her job until the plumber has completed his, for example)

Managing the contractors that you hire to assist with your home improvement job can be time consuming, but ensuring that you are an active participant in the process will help you to stay in control and create the results you want.