Hearth & Soul

by Suzy Banks

Building Fiascos? Last week I detailed a couple of nightmare scenarios of homeowner vs.
contractor. I assigned myself the dirty deed this week of explaining how you
can avoid similar fiascos with builders. The guidelines suggested by experts
are certainly worth noting:

1. Get referrals from professional organizations like Austin Association of
Remodeling Contractors (451-8041) or the Home Builders Association (474-8182).
They don’t just let in anyone with enough money to pay dues. Typically,
criteria for membership includes working in the area for at least one year,
five to 10 customer references, no record of hot checks, an established
relationship with a local bank, no complaints registered with the Better
Business Bureau or the Attorney General’s office, and other such safeguards.

2. Get references from people they’ve done work for. Some should date back at
least a year or more, not just be works-in-progress. Check out the work they’ve
done and call the people they list as references.

3. Get several bids.

4. Once you’ve chosen a builder, the two of you should translate into
writing what he will do for what amount of money and when he will be paid.
In some countries, this is called a contract. While a flaky builder who simply
vanishes at the first sign of trouble can make even a lawyer-drafted agreement
worthless, the contract is a good thing. Remember the truism: Reasonable
contracts are made by reasonable people. If you can’t get a reasonable
contract, run.

But more important than all these pointers is the nebulous question of
character. A builder can be a consummate professional and still be an asshole.
Picking someone with a personality suited to your own involves a little
self-examination. Determining what kind of person you are will determine what
kind of contractor you should hire.

Let’s take a little quiz; if Cosmopolitan is any indication, people
love these things.

1. When you go out to dinner with a group of friends, are you comfortable: a)
splitting the check evenly between everyone? b) whipping out a calculator and
figuring everyone’s individual dinner check down to the penny, including tax
and tip? c) picking up the entire tab yourself?

2. You consider your house clean when: a) the dishes are done, the bed’s made
and the rug is vacuumed, b) all of the above, plus the baseboards are cleaned
with a toothbrush, all the CDs have been dusted with a lint free cloth, and the
tops of all your canned goods have been wiped with a rag dipped in rubbing
alcohol, c) you brush the cracker crumbs out of the bed onto the floor where
the dogs can clean them up.

3. You’ve planned a trip to an idyllic Caribbean island for months, the bright
light in an otherwise intolerably routine existence. At the last minute, your
boss says you can’t go because the deadline for some stupid project has been
moved up. You: a) bite your lip and reschedule, but not before you slip a
little laxative in your boss’ coffee, b) quit your job and spend your vacation
money suing your boss, c) figure you didn’t deserve the trip anyway and console
yourself with a sticky, purple cocktail with an umbrella in it.

If you answered mostly a), you’re a reasonable human being who can roll with
the punches but knows when to stand up for himself. You would do well to find a
contractor who does some of the work himself, will readily sign a contract but
realizes — as you do — that things (read: disasters) will spring up because
that’s just the way building is and you will both have to communicate and
compromise to handle these things. If you answered mostly b), you will drive
even the best contractor crazy. Get some therapy or good drugs or shock
treatments before you even consider having a home built. If you answered c)
throughout, you should avoid builders with soft hands, cell phones, and
beepers, and trucks built after 1978. Your laid-back attitude requires a
one-man show, preferably operating out of the back of a VW van, a contractor
whose integrity is evident in the fact he survived the Sixties and he sharpens
his own saws.

This article appears in March 14 • 1997 and March 14 • 1997 (Cover).