[00:00:00] Eric Goranson: It's around the house. When you are going through the design process, you're going through the bid process. You're getting ready to sign a contract. If your personality is not meshing with that contract, you guys are not communicating. You're rubbing each other wrong. They're getting frustrated. You're getting frustrated warning.

[00:00:28] Eric Goranson: This is the honeymoon period. This is that period of the contract. That everything should be going beautifully from here on out until everything's done. The blue tapes off the wall, the checks are cleared. Contractor's gone. This is the least stress you will have in this homeowner contractor relationship, period.

[00:00:51] Eric Goranson: So if you're not getting together then and being on the same page, when it comes to remodeling and renovating your home, there is a lot to [00:01:00] know, but we've got you covered. This. The house show, the next generation of home improvement. Thanks for tuning in today. I'm Eric G. If you want to find out more about us, head over to around the house online.

[00:01:15] Eric Goranson: com for more information and a way to contact the show. This is something that I got another request for from a bunch of people this last week, and I said, we're going to do a show on it this weekend. My top 10 tips to hiring a contractor. Now, this could be somebody that's an HVAC contractor. It could be a handy person coming over to do some touch up work around the house, or it could be a major remodel you're trying to track down and start the process with.

[00:01:41] Eric Goranson: These are my top 10 tips, and this is really An important part of working on your biggest investment, your home. And we've seen the horror stories. If you're listening to us a few years ago, we had my friend, Amber, who had the sledgehammer contractor that was on social media, this clown [00:02:00] decided he wanted to get paid early, was trying to hold her hostage, came in and decided to quote unquote repossess her bathroom.

[00:02:08] Eric Goranson: And yeah, you can go back and check an episode for that. Maybe I'll share that up on social media. And talk about how that happened and how this stuff can be prevented with hiring the right contractor. And of course, doing that research because people like this, there are warning signs and we're going to talk about that here today.

[00:02:27] Eric Goranson: So the first thing here that I will recommend, and here's the problem with licensed contractors. I love licensed contractors. There's a lot of them out there, but the problem is a homeowner. It's not the contractor's fault is that every location has different rules. So somebody in Portland, Oregon has different rules than somebody in Seattle, Washington, or somebody in Tampa Bay, Florida, all the way up to Philadelphia.

[00:02:58] Eric Goranson: You've got all these different [00:03:00] rules and there are certain places in the country where they don't really even regulate contracting that much. And so that really leaves you as a homeowner. is a place to be a victim for that small percentage of bad contractors. And so today I'm going to really try to help you walk through and help you show a best practice.

[00:03:19] Eric Goranson: Of some of my tips and tricks to making sure you get the right one for your next project. So really the first one is always hire licensed, bonded, insured. Now, maybe they don't offer in your little area, contractors licensing. There is nobody managing that, but you still want them to have a business license.

[00:03:38] Eric Goranson: You want them to have insurance. You want them to have a bond. And here's why. If they go running off with your money, you can collect on the bond. If they make a major mistake in your house and flood it, the insurance is going to cover it. Now, this is where some of the biggest mistakes as a homeowner can be to hire what I call the Chuck in the truck, the, Oh, I'm a handyman and I'll do [00:04:00] it for you.

[00:04:00] Eric Goranson: In my state, handyman has to be licensed. Just the same is a licensed, sponsored, insured contractor because they have the same liabilities. If you hired that Chuck in the truck and they're out front digging, doing some landscape work for you, and they're maybe fixing the driveway or something like that, and they hit the fiber optic line or they hit.

[00:04:24] Eric Goranson: The water line or the sewer line, or even worse, the gas line, that could be millions of dollars of liability that just landed in your lap. And if they're not licensed, bonded, insured, and you hire them as a homeowner, there are your personal employee. So here's where this gets to be a really big deal. If you hire, I'm going to make a name up ABC general contracting.

[00:04:50] Eric Goranson: Now this is nobody out there. I'm just making up a name. So this is not a company. If you own ABC general contracting, I'm not talking about you. Here's the thing. If [00:05:00] you hire ABC general contracting, And their roofer falls off the roof and gets hurt and they have to lifeline them out to the hospital because they are wounded.

[00:05:10] Eric Goranson: They are hurting that contractor. Their workers compensation insurance is going to cover that and they're covered. If you hired Chuck in the truck to come over and do that roofing job and they fall off the roof. Break their back. They're paralyzed and they get life flighted out of there. That is your bill.

[00:05:30] Eric Goranson: Cause you are responsible. It happened to your house. It's no different than somebody over your house falling. At your barbecue and getting hurt. There's liability there. So the last thing I want you to do is try to save 500 bucks by hiring the chuck in the truck. And all of a sudden you are now personally responsible for them.

[00:05:50] Eric Goranson: If they are stuck right smack in the dab of being a contractor and they weren't licensed and they're paralyzed for the rest of your life, this could cost you [00:06:00] everything. And the first thing they're going for is your insurance. But that's where it gets sticky. Sometimes you're not covered in that instance because you're there.

[00:06:09] Eric Goranson: They're there. You're employee. It's not your best friend coming over for the barbecue and you don't have workers compensation insurance. So this is where that stuff can get really ugly. I've seen it happen where that liability just can eat you up. They're digging out front with a backhoe, putting the retaining wall in, and they dig up the fiber optic line out by the street.

[00:06:30] Eric Goranson: Guess what? It's expensive for you to fix if they're not licensed, bonded, and insured. So these are all things that I want you to make sure that you're covered with because this gets crazy. On the cost side of things. So make sure now the other thing is, is make sure that too, and this is depending on the States in my area, it's state regulated in some areas, it's local city or county or township regulated.

[00:06:55] Eric Goranson: So the first thing I want you to do is understand what the code is in your [00:07:00] area for contractors and understand that. Are they supposed to be bringing out. These forms for you to sign, uh, what are the, what are the laws for your area? The best thing you can do before you hire them is understand what those are and how they're there to protect you is the client and you understand what is required of them.

[00:07:19] Eric Goranson: So you can make sure and track it down in my area. It's really easy because I'm in the state of Oregon. We have a lot of Oregon listeners. I can just go over to the Oregon CCB. I can look on the website. I can look them up. I can get on the phone and call into the Oregon CCB and say, Hey, I'm looking up ABC general contractors.

[00:07:36] Eric Goranson: What do you know about them? And they'll go, they've been around for 35 years and they're amazing people. Or they're going, Oh, you missed them. They're on our top 10 most wanted page for fines because they've been ripping people off all around town. All of a sudden you're in trouble. So that's where do your research, see where people can help you that are government agencies.

[00:07:57] Eric Goranson: that can help you search and figure it out. [00:08:00] So that's a big one right there. Now next up here, You got to do your research. Make sure these are real companies. I have seen, Fake contractors, Show up, They put a magnet on the side of their car that they ordered online. They've got business cards, And they're using somebody else's contractor's license.

[00:08:20] Eric Goranson: They're not on the contractor's license. They're not even an employee. They're just mirroring, pretending to be one. And so that again is where you want to do your research. Sometimes it's good to get on their website, give them a call, have a question, do your research. I have sat there and called their insurance companies to make sure they have coverage before or ask that contractor to show me a printout with proof and then call and verify because here's one thing that I want you to do in your research.

[00:08:50] Eric Goranson: Make sure that they're at the time that you get that you're going to sign. For instance, if you're like, okay, I'm going to hire this company, we're rocking with this. Make sure that the [00:09:00] day you're signing that contract with them, That they have all their insurances and bond because that way, if that's there, generally you're covered moving forward.

[00:09:10] Eric Goranson: So you have now been registered. Okay, you're covered as of this moment. Now, if they don't pay their bill down the road, that's another issue. But many times you can go, Hey, I was covered when I signed it. And many times they can cover that. And so you have now opened that door up. So always verify it the day that you're signing that contract to make sure it's styled.

[00:09:30] Eric Goranson: And now when we come back, I've got one of the most important ones here outside of being licensed, bonded and insured to make sure that you're protected as a homeowner, we'll do that just as soon as around the house returns. Don't go anywhere.[00:10:00]

[00:10:09] Eric Goranson: What's up? This is Dixon in you and satchel from steel Panther. And you are listening to around the house with Eric. Yeah, we love Eric G and you should too.

[00:10:30] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to the around the house show. The next generation of home improvement. Thanks for joining me today. If you're just Jonas on the national radio program or the streaming shows that you see out there, you can find out more about us at around the house, online. com. And you can also give us a call in the studio for more help on your problems.

[00:10:48] Eric Goranson: You're working out on your house. That's 8 3 3 2 3 9 41 44. If you're shy, it's okay. You can contact us at the website, but 2 3 9 41 [00:11:00] 44. Now the cool thing is too, is if you are new to the show here and you're just joining us for the first time, we do have a ton of videos and it is super cool with the around the house, Northwest television show that we've got.

[00:11:14] Eric Goranson: Then I tell you what, we have got a boatload of videos for you and we cover everything from new products to everything else. It is so much fun with all the new stuff we've got out there. So we are at 469 videos before today and growing, so we're almost at 500 videos out there. And we have got some great stuff.

[00:11:36] Eric Goranson: So literally I sat down last week, we sat down and talked about connecting up PECS pipes. What's the best way to do that? We sat down and also did some, some fun stuff in that we built a DIY coffee table where we turned around and decided to build a coffee table at a two by fours and see how it would good.

[00:11:54] Eric Goranson: And also we talked about Shoshugibun, the Japanese Ancient art of finishing [00:12:00] wood with flame and how you can get a finish. That's well 75 to 100 years old if you do it correctly and using the right wood So there's a lot of cool stuff going on over there. You can find that at around the house online. com Pretty easy there so we've been talking about my top 10 tips to hiring a contractor and how important this is now one of the most important things Is the detail and the quality of the contract and payment schedule?

[00:12:27] Eric Goranson: I will see somebody roll in and go 12 by 36 deck, railing stairs, 30, 000. I'm going to make a number up. Here's the problem. You Oh, sweet. Thanks. Contract. Good. So that made out of two by fours that are off the whitewood lumber stack. Are you having composite? What kind of, is it a pallet that you're using for the, for the, you need to have the details spelled out, whatever it is.

[00:12:53] Eric Goranson: It needs to be the more detail in the contract, the more each one of you. Are less likely to [00:13:00] have a confusion of what the job site expectations are. So hear me out here. And this is a big one. I want to see what, for instance, on a kitchen remodel in the last segment we were talking about last hour, we're talking about kitchen remodels.

[00:13:12] Eric Goranson: When you have a kitchen remodel, this contract probably is going to have line items or pages. Maybe if there's allowances, they need to be there. So I want to see remove and replace cabinets, this cabinet hardware. What is that? What is your allowance? I want to see this. If it's an allowance based thing, I want to see what those are because you need to know and you need to know what this breakdown is.

[00:13:36] Eric Goranson: So to me, you need to have a very broken down estimate. So everybody understands because here's where the problem is. New kitchen faucet. All right. Is that a 29 one that they bought off of Amazon? Is it a 12, 000 one that was handmade? Which is it? Is it someplace in between? Nobody knows until it's written down in the [00:14:00] contract.

[00:14:00] Eric Goranson: So that contract is something that should be written out really well. And to me, if you're doing a contract for something that's over like 20, 000, it's not a bad idea to have your family attorney out there. Look through it to make sure that everything's covered and everything is following the law.

[00:14:18] Eric Goranson: Because you want that done. So many States, great example, many States, many municipalities have laws of what those contracts should be written like, is there a lead paint addendum because your house was built before 1978, are there warnings of asbestos, what is in this project, what is in it? What do you got?

[00:14:38] Eric Goranson: This is so important when you're doing contracts, you've got to be covered. Now, one of the biggest fears that I see for homeowners out there are the illegal contractors out there that are skirting the rules. And there's a handful of them out there. Most contractors. Are doing it right. They're providing for a great employees.

[00:14:58] Eric Goranson: They've got a really well run [00:15:00] business, but we're trying to weed out the bad ones here, right? That's all we're trying to do is weed out the ones that we go, ah, these guys are not up to the job. So that's what we're trying to keep off of our projects as homeowners. So the first thing that I look at too, is there is a way for.

[00:15:16] Eric Goranson: Basically, contractors to skirt insurance, and this is workers compensation insurance for their employees. So what is, you'll see a contractor licensed through whatever licensing agency, whether it's state or whatever goes on in your neck of the woods. And they'll say that they're a single person contractor, no employees, no nothing, and they'll license themselves that way and not provide workers compensation insurance to those employees.

[00:15:44] Eric Goranson: So the problem there is, is that can get ugly for you as a homeowner if somebody gets hurt or killed. So if they have people out at your job site that are saying they're employees of ABC general contracting, I'm making that name up again, But [00:16:00] if they're employees out there, you need to make sure, do your quick research and make sure that they are insured, because guess what?

[00:16:06] Eric Goranson: If they're not, you still could end up being in a lawsuit by this contractor, not doing it, if they get hurt at your house. And I don't want to see that. And nor am I trying to scare you here, but this is where you can really make some differences on reducing your liability as a homeowner. And of course.

[00:16:23] Eric Goranson: Weeding out those people that you don't want to be working with. And that's the ones that are skirting the rules that are trying to save a buck here and there, but liability wise, it could cost you. So that's another one right there. Now, another one is if you, again, this comes down to whatever your local licensing agency is, but I want you to take a look at the complaints and lawsuits that they do have.

[00:16:46] Eric Goranson: If someone's been in business for 30 years, they probably have. A couple complaints out there. Pretty easy to do. They're going to run into a homeowner that is just really, really difficult to work with [00:17:00] that is trying to take advantage of that contractor. And that stuff happens. I can't tell you the homeowners.

[00:17:08] Eric Goranson: That have held hostage contractors really good ones because they said, Hey, if you don't give me a free 5, 000 of the work, I'm going to leave you a bad review online and say how horrible you did. I have seen this level of online extortion from more than one homeowner. It's a horrible thing to do. So it's commonplace in some areas.

[00:17:28] Eric Goranson: So it's really bad. So you want to make sure that That you're not running into that because there are good ones that go now. I know i'm right I know this is the right thing to do. I've tried to be reasonable with you and guess what? We'll see you later, but there's also ones out there that you can look up the business owners and go, wow, these guys have.

[00:17:45] Eric Goranson: The last decade have lawsuits for, let's say, employees not getting paid lawsuits for overbilling outside of the contract, you start digging in and go, holy smokes, [00:18:00] this is never good. And so that's where you start to look and do that research and go, okay, this is well above and beyond. And when in doubt, if this is a big project and you look at it and go, wow, there's a lot of legal stuff.

[00:18:13] Eric Goranson: Again, contract to contract attorney, get them in for a little bit, have them do their research, have them look up the lawsuits against them and have them take a look at it and see if that's reasonable business. I know a kitchen, a bath company that's been sued sheesh so many times and the owners have been sued so many times.

[00:18:33] Eric Goranson: It's just ridiculous and they're still out there doing business. We'll talk more about that in my top 10 ways to hiring a contractor and what to be careful for When around the house returns don't go anywhere[00:19:00]

[00:19:00] Eric Goranson: Hey, this is ron keel the metal cowboy from keel the ron keel band and stealer We are rocking around the house with eric g

[00:19:13] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to the Around the House show, the next generation of home improvement. Thanks for joining me today. Of course, if you've been listening to the podcast, you've been listening all through this. But if you're out on the national radio show out there across the United States, thanks for joining us today.

[00:19:27] Eric Goranson: If you're just joining us, you can find out more about us and around the house online. com has everything from the radio show, the podcast, the TV show, and a bunch of different stuff there. All on that one website. So you can find us more about right there. And of course we've got our social media pages.

[00:19:44] Eric Goranson: We're on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. You've tracked me down on link LinkedIn, and we do have our around the house nation close group. We can share up some stuff out there, show your project. And we've got a really kind group over there, which is something that we've got a lot of professionals and some of your favorite TV [00:20:00] show hosts on television.

[00:20:02] Eric Goranson: And it's not me. That's the cool part. So we've been talking today about my top 10 tips to hiring a contractor, if you're just joining us. And one thing I want to talk about as a side note, that's important is understanding what liens and lien releases are. Great example. If you've got somebody doing an addition on their house and this contractor goes down to the lumber yard, they've got an account.

[00:20:25] Eric Goranson: What happens is, is that lumberyard protects itself on the account. If this contractor does not pay off that material, they can come over and put a lien on your house. So you might get a notice in the mail. Again, it depends on state to state how it goes. And this is how it goes in the Pacific Northwest here is that that lumberyard or company will send via certified mail to the homeowner, a intent to lean saying, Hey, if this guy doesn't pay the bills, we're gonna put a lien on your house that shows up at your house.

[00:20:57] Eric Goranson: Many times homeowners start freak it out. I'm going to [00:21:00] lean. No, if the guy doesn't pay the bills or girl doesn't pay the bills, guess what? They could put the lien for the materials on your house. So it's in your best interest to make sure that bill gets paid. Now, if they've done that, generally speaking, when that gets paid, they're going to also send you a lien release saying, Oh, you're good.

[00:21:15] Eric Goranson: You're released. So these are things you need to keep track of to make sure that you don't get stuck with bill on materials you've already paid for. And so that's the thing you have to be careful with is making sure that the people that are out buying stuff with your, that's getting delivered to your property is what it is.

[00:21:32] Eric Goranson: Now I have seen contractors that have gotten themselves in trouble, especially in times like this, where we have economic uncertainty, house builders are building less homes in many areas. And you're seeing a lot of that. So it's one of those things that these are the times where sometimes these guys get shaken out, but homeowners can get stuck with some bills.

[00:21:51] Eric Goranson: And so you just want to make sure that you're covered in that. So pay attention to those liens intent to liens and the lien releases to make sure they're taken care of. [00:22:00] And when you're done, make sure and chat with people to make sure that you've got it all dialed in. So you can make sure that at the end of the project, That the building permits have been signed off and there's no liens that could potentially be on your project So next one up here and i'm sorry to all the radio stations out there that have these guys as sponsors But i'm gonna make somebody mad probably right now, but I do not trust For good information, the better business bureau.

[00:22:29] Eric Goranson: I don't, I just don't. So they do not give out, in my opinion, great information. Here's what can happen. So you see that accredited business. That just means that somebody wrote a check. They did their little quick online search and you're good to go. You could have a company that's had massive lawsuits, horrible reputation out there, and they could have an accredited a plus.

[00:22:55] Eric Goranson: And you could have a business that is never had a complaint. [00:23:00] It's been around for years on end. Everything's good. And they have a C plus or a C minus because guess what? They didn't pay the 750 or whatever it is in your area to the better business Bureau to be accredited. And so since you're not paying them, they knock you down.

[00:23:18] Eric Goranson: The BBB is a profit organization. They're there to make money. They are not, in my opinion, a consumer resource. That is trustworthy because you can have bad businesses with A's great businesses with C minus. They did it to my company in Seattle. I had a C minus, never had a complaint, had never talked to the BBB in three years.

[00:23:40] Eric Goranson: But guess what? They wanted me to pay that. So I look at it and go, oh, C minus what happened? Call 'em up. And they're like, if you're accredited, we will just give you that a plus. And I'm like, really? So then I told 'em that I was a guest on a radio show in in Seattle, Washington at the time. Hours later I've got an A plus.

[00:23:58] Eric Goranson: So this is the stuff that [00:24:00] you really gotta be careful with. I do not consider them a resource. They're not a company that I would use to help mitigate. Problems. I just don't get them involved in any of my stuff. And, and I've never had a complaint through them, period. Never had a deal with it. I just don't think that there's somebody you should bring into that.

[00:24:19] Eric Goranson: If you have a state governing agency that governs contractors and you're a homeowner, maybe that's a place that you can let help work through those disputes that you can't hammer out between two parties. Before it gets into a legal matter. So take a look, but the BBB, I take that out. They're not part of my decision making process.

[00:24:37] Eric Goranson: I mean, if you go on there and they've got an F and they've got all these lawsuits and stuff on it, maybe do some more research. But other than that, I never will use them as a source of information to say there's somebody I want to do business with just because I can't trust them. And if you want to see more information, head over to YouTube, look at, I think it was ABC did a whole story on them.

[00:24:57] Eric Goranson: I think it was 2020 or one of those. [00:25:00] Investigative shows did a whole thing on them and you had, uh, they were explaining why Disney Wolfgang Puck and all these different people were so against them because they had the same experience. And they all had Fs and that's because the BBB was not getting paid from them.

[00:25:16] Eric Goranson: So something to be careful with out there. Just don't bring them into that program for you. So the next thing I want to do is a tip to hiring a contractor when you are going through the design Process you're going through the bid process You're getting ready to sign a contract If your personality is not meshing with that contractor, you guys are not communicating.

[00:25:43] Eric Goranson: You're rubbing each other wrong. They're getting frustrated. You're getting frustrated warning. This is the honeymoon period. This is that period of the contract that everything should be going beautifully. From here on out until [00:26:00] everything's done, the blue tape's off the wall, the checks are cleared, contractor's gone, this is the least stress you will have in this homeowner contractor relationship.

[00:26:12] Eric Goranson: Period. So if you're not getting together then and being on the same page, I promise you, it's going to get worse. So if you're not meshing, One of you, the contractor or the homeowner has to do something. We're having some problems communicating. If we can't figure this out, we probably need to go our separate ways.

[00:26:32] Eric Goranson: And that's okay. You can do that. It's okay to go. This isn't working as a kitchen designer. I would always sit there and say, Hey, if I didn't let go of a couple of contacts a year of, of contracts, of, of kitchens I designed out because they were difficult to work with and it was going to get worse, it's better to walk away and go.

[00:26:51] Eric Goranson: This is not going to fly. It's not going to work. So that's where it can really save you a ton of headaches. Because if that [00:27:00] relationship isn't sparkling at this point, you got some rough roads ahead because these people are going to be outside your house, inside your house. If it's a deck, they're going to be around for a week or two outside.

[00:27:11] Eric Goranson: If it's a kitchen remodel, they could be there for 90 to 120 days. You want to have a great trust. You want to have everything going smoothly. Don't go any farther until you have this dialed in. And that's a really smart one. And I don't care if the, if you're going to save money, it's never worth it.

[00:27:28] Eric Goranson: Having a toxic relationship through that. So maybe it's you, maybe it's them. Maybe you guys are missing the boat on how to communicate together, but if you can't get it dialed in time to move on and find another person that you're going to work with better, because all those stresses. Of you wanting your peace and quiet during the week.

[00:27:48] Eric Goranson: If they're doing a remodel inside your house, I want you to have these people. I want you to see them on a, on a Tuesday morning. Go, Hey, how's it going? Versus, Oh my gosh, can't believe they're here yet. They're here already. I [00:28:00] want them to leave. It's never healthy. It's going to be a troubled project from start to finish.

[00:28:05] Eric Goranson: And that does nothing but get more expensive. When you have that. So make sure your personalities are meshing, things are going great. And that, and that, that you guys are going to get along. Now, before we got to break here, I want to give one more tip here. That's not really on my top 10 list. But it's something as a homeowner.

[00:28:22] Eric Goranson: I want you to realize sometimes if you do the work It could cost you more than if you just let them do it round the house. We'll be right back We'll wrap up our top 10 tips for hiring a contractor after these important messages. Don't go anyway[00:29:00]

[00:29:03] Eric Goranson: It's the end of the show drinking down people. It's time to go. Welcome back to the around the house show the next generation of home improvement Thanks for joining me today Of course, that's the fourth time you've heard it if you're listening to the podcast But on the radio, you might be just joining us on the national radio show.

[00:29:18] Eric Goranson: Thanks for tuning in. I am here to help you with your house. I'm Eric G and we're today. We're talking about how to hire a contractor. What are my top 10 tips to help make this process easier so you can find the right contractor and one that's going to get the job right. For the most reasonable amount of money.

[00:29:36] Eric Goranson: And that's the key here. Now, here's one of the ones that are always a big warning sign to me. When I'm hiring a contractor, if you're doing a contract, if you're working with a contractor for a kitchen, bath deck, whatever, and they're sending you out to buy materials for it, there go my red flags, I've got the siren going off.

[00:29:57] Eric Goranson: I'm going, Whoa. What [00:30:00] do we have going here? And here's why in most, if not all areas, if you're supplying the materials, their warranty will only cause the labor. So let's say if you're supplying the materials and you didn't get the materials list, right? Let's say it's a shower system and you got products that are not compatible and they install it.

[00:30:23] Eric Goranson: That's on you. Their labor is covered, but you got to go out and buy more materials. Or if the plumber has to come back again, two or three times, because you didn't get the right parts. So for me, I want to see that contractor. So you have a parts and labor warranty. This is where warranties are a big thing in this.

[00:30:42] Eric Goranson: I want to make sure that they are buying those materials. Now, sometimes you'll hear somebody say, well, you know, and here's another warning sign I see with this too. And this is something to pay attention to. You will see contractors sometimes dodge. Lumber yards, the permit office, because [00:31:00] they either don't have credit or at the permit office, they're not licensed or bonded and they're going to get nailed by going down there, so they won't do it.

[00:31:09] Eric Goranson: So I want to make sure that really, if they are buying the, you're, they're buying the materials and you're writing a check now, here's what can happen. And yes, that contractor is going to mark those materials up. They should. Because they are taking time to order it, deliver it, make sure it's there and everything else.

[00:31:28] Eric Goranson: So whether that's 15 percent or 25%, awesome, that's their job and they should. Now here's the thing, they're probably getting, like on cabins, they might be getting a 15 or 20 percent discount. They might be getting out a discount on stuff. So that discount should generally speaking, somewhat wash its way out because they're getting that contractor discount.

[00:31:51] Eric Goranson: That's why they get the contractor discount so they can run it through their books and sell it to you at a reasonable rate. And that way you're covered [00:32:00] for labor and materials. This can get really expensive if you have a shower that leaks, or you've got a deck that's failing. You know, let's say you put a brand new deck on, maybe they didn't install the decking correctly, the composite and it's warping, or they didn't frame it right.

[00:32:17] Eric Goranson: Or do something there now they're on the hook for that versus you might be on the hook to have to go buy new material and then they're going to provide the labor to do it again. So you see what I mean? This is where you got to be super careful to get not caught in the trap of, Oh, why don't you just go buy it and save the money?

[00:32:33] Eric Goranson: No, I want you to make sure that they are. And here's the other thing too, if you're the purchaser of this material, so let's say you're doing a nice bathroom remodel, you've got spray head, shower heads, diverters, all this stuff, super complex. If you're getting decent stuff, there's, you know, 20 boxes showing up.

[00:32:52] Eric Goranson: Okay. For that, if one of those boxes was pulled wrong, you ordered it correctly, or it didn't show up correctly, or it's missing parts, [00:33:00] are you going to jump out of your important management Zoom meeting to go drive across town to go get parts while that plumber's making a few hundred bucks an hour sitting there waiting for you to do that?

[00:33:09] Eric Goranson: Or is that the job of the contractor to go, hey, Plumber better go run and get it. I got it through you So you need to make sure and go get those parts because they didn't come in correctly That is something that you probably don't want to manage And why are you paying for that person? Anyway, so let them deal with it It's just a much better way to go and here's the cool thing.

[00:33:29] Eric Goranson: It gets you a better warranty in most situations So what is the warranty? What is the required warranty? That is the minimum for your State, city, township, county, whatever that is. And then what is the warranty that they offer? Do they just offer the minimum? What is that written warranty? What are they responsible for?

[00:33:49] Eric Goranson: Because here's the thing you see this happen, especially like with windows and exterior projects. Where that warranty is not very long. And then down the road, you figure out, Oh [00:34:00] my gosh, all of my windows were installed incorrectly. And now you're having to go back after somebody to figure it out. Cause now you have to go in and spend all that labor again.

[00:34:08] Eric Goranson: So understand the laws. Understand what the responsibility is. And that's part of that buying the materials and letting them do it. Get the discount, let them get the discount market up. I mean, they don't need to make, they need to cover their costs, right? They need to make sure there's a little profit in there.

[00:34:26] Eric Goranson: They've got a lot of liability in that and it's running through their books. So they're paying taxes on it and everything else. So they need to understand that, you know, and you as a homeowner, you should understand that that's going to be an expense cost of the project. You're probably not going to save anything.

[00:34:41] Eric Goranson: If you're buying materials and they're not warranting it because guess what? You bought it. You're the purchaser. They're not going to cover it. So that's a huge one guys right there. Now the other thing that I would lean on when I'm going on checking to hire a contractor, call around, make sure they've got [00:35:00] references.

[00:35:00] Eric Goranson: Oh yes. Those references could be their nieces, their nephews, their cousins, their brothers. Absolutely could be. And that's the risk you take. But what I always recommend is talk to your friends and family, people that, you know, in business, who have they used, who worked well, you know, if they had a 200, 000 remodel done and you would just want to have a bathroom done and their project went off smoothly.

[00:35:25] Eric Goranson: Well, that's a great reference, right? So this is where you can save some time and money by going off of people that have already. Wrist it that you trust. How does it work? All that stuff. It's so funny. I have one contractor that has gone through so many of my friends and coworkers for that same reason.

[00:35:42] Eric Goranson: They go, Oh, we trust them. They're all happy. And I mean, I know one person that just completely went through their house here in Portland, start to finish. They just kept chasing around because They trust them and it worked well. So that's the cool part of this whole process is once you find that one, man, you want to [00:36:00] just ride it, get the projects done and keep going.

[00:36:02] Eric Goranson: And that's a really smart thing to do right there. And the other thing is, is, you know, if you're hiring a painting contractor, if you're hiring a, a contractor, it's okay to ask the people who's your favorite painter to the paint store, not the home center, but the paint store. Who's your favorite. You're at the local lumberyard, the local hardware store.

[00:36:19] Eric Goranson: Who's your favorite contractor? Oh, this person, these people glowing reviews. Maybe that's a great place to start. It's not a bad place to go when you're trying to track that stuff down. So really go with your gut, pay attention to the research, you know, Google the snot out of it. See if you can find out stuff.

[00:36:38] Eric Goranson: There's easy ways to jump online. Take a look, see if you can track them down. And, uh, make sure that if they've got, uh, you know, each state is different, each area is different. So follow the rules as best you can and do what you can. There are so many great contractors out there that do fabulous work. You just want to make sure you're finding them versus the [00:37:00] handful of the other ones out there that are preying on the general public.

[00:37:04] Eric Goranson: Some States do a great job of tracking down bad contractors, Others it's the wild west and you need to be careful of that. And the other thing is if you work with an interior designer or you're working with some kind of designer ask, maybe it's an architect, you know, maybe it's a landscape designer, who do they work with?

[00:37:25] Eric Goranson: Who is their go to people that they love to work with? You might find the best dream team between a designer, architect, landscape architect, pool designer. Whatever they're doing, who is their dream people to work with? That's usually the easy ones that take care of the clients. So feel free to lean in on them to find out, you know, how's this going to work?

[00:37:49] Eric Goranson: You know, it's a great place to start in the estimate process. And really, I want to make sure that you go out, you know, the biggest thing that I say is make sure you don't go out after the lowest bid. This is not a [00:38:00] government contract you're trying to do here. Lowest bid usually means I throw that one out.

[00:38:05] Eric Goranson: But I also look to see how the bid is explained out the level of detail, the more detail, the more they probably understand the process. So that's where that can save you a ton of headaches because those headaches will cost you in the long run. So make sure you got that and then understand what manufacturers are going in there.

[00:38:23] Eric Goranson: If you've got cabinetry, who's the cabinetry. Company. Who's the tile? Who's the tile installer. Feel free to ask, is this all done by them or do they have subcontractors are working with, these are all super important things when you're working on a home like this, your home, especially, you just want to make sure who, you know, coming in the house, coming out, most of them.

[00:38:43] Eric Goranson: Don't do a bunch of background checks. Don't expect this. But, uh, and especially with the lead referral, I don't like jumping on websites to have contractors contact me because those guys are selling you, you right there. When you jump onto those different lists out there on [00:39:00] those referral sites to get a quick free estimate, they sold you to a handful of people.

[00:39:05] Eric Goranson: And these are the ones that are having a hard time finding people sometimes. So be careful with that. I'm not a big fan of those from time to time that can get you into trouble and you get a whole bunch of predatory contractors coming after you. And there's always some good ones in there. It's just harder to figure them out.

[00:39:21] Eric Goranson: All right, everybody Have a great rest of the week Thanks for tuning in to around the house for more information about us. You can find us at around the house online. com Have a great and safe weekend