Thinking of building a new home along the Wasatch Front? There are several questions that you should consider and ask your General Contractor.
1. First and definitely most important: Are you licensed?
While the fact that your contractor has a license does not mean that he will do a great job, it will improve your chances of finding one who knows what he's doing.
2. Secondly: are you insured?
In addition to being licensed, any contractor that you consider should be covered by general liability insurance. This ensures that, should he or any of his crew members damage your property in any way, the expense to repair it will be covered by the insurance company. Again, insist on seeing proof of a current policy.
3. Are your workers insured?
General liability will cover your property, but not injuries to your contractor or his crew. Make sure he or each of his sub contractors carries Worker's Comp insurance or the equivalent, so you won't have to worry about footing the medical bills should someone get injured on the job. One-man-shows are sometimes exempt from having to carry this insurance, but even so, you could be liable for injuries.
4. How long have you been in business?
While this should be an obvious question, I would be a bit leery of someone who just got their license and had never built a house before. I would prefer someone that had at least 5 years experience to build my home.
5. Do you offer a written guarantee?
Because shoddy workmanship sometimes doesn't appear for several months after the job is completed, a reliable general contractor will offer a guarantee of at least 12 months after completion of the project. If he doesn't, this should be a “huge red flag (buyer beware)”. Make sure you have read and understand the guarantee before signing the contract.
6. Do you personally visit each site every day or do you have a supervisor?
Most general contractors use sub-contractors. Ask how long the general has been working with his sub-contractors. Remember, you don’t want to have the low bid always get the work. You want responsible contractors on your site. Ask whether or not they will be on the job every day, and if not, who the responsible party will be. Unless they have a superintendent or foreman who is as competent as they are, find someone else.
7. How do we contact you?
Nowadays everyone has a mobile phone and most, if not all, people know how to use text messaging. If your general is not available by these methods, is there a place that you can leave messages? Will your general contractor commit to a time each week to meet at the site? Is there a time of the day that is better to contact the contractor? Make sure that your lines of communication are open and available.
8. Do you have references?
Any general contractor should be more than willing to hand over a few references for you to check. Ask for customers who have worked with him in the last year or so, and call them to find out how they liked his work. You might also want to check with his preferred lenders and title companies-they will know how he handles his business and if he is reputable. If you hear anything negative, give him the opportunity to explain the situation, but don't hire him until you understand what happened.
There has never been a better time to build your dream home. Historically low interest rates, combined with reduced prices on labor and construction and the recent roll back in land costs (I am writing this in June of 2008), make this a true buyers market. I think that you’ll agree that now is the best time in recent history to build your dream home!
Author Resource:-
Garn G Christensen Jr has been a licensed General Contractor in the State of Utah since1982 and his company incorporated in 1993. Garn has been building homes since 1978 and has helped hundreds of Utah home owners build their “Dream Home.” Garn’s company participated in the 2007 Salt Lake HBA Parade of Homes, and won 2 of the 3 highest awards given-Best of Category & Best Architecture/Home Design. For more information, please visit Garn at www.GarnChristensen.com
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