Need advice on contractor/GC for home updates

BNAG8R

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Jun 10, 2014
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While I don’t value any of your opinions because you spend all of your time on message boards, I thought I’d still get some advice from the collective dorks.

I want to sell my home in the spring, and there is a bunch of work that I want to get done prior to listing it. It’s a lot of different things (replace windows, some soffit and fascia work, landscaping, interior upgrades to bathroom fixtures, some drywall work, tile backsplash, etc.).

I just don’t have the time or bandwidth to manage everything, especially over a 6 month timeframe. Any advice on how to take on these projects, manage budgeting, hire contractors, etc? Would it be worth my while to hire a GC to manage everything? What should I expect to pay?

Thanks for you knowledgeable experience and advice.


Good lord....what have I done?
 

g8tr72

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Advertise on a bulletin board in a drug rehab facility. Provide your name and address when you tell them you are too busy to manage their work.

#JustMeetingYourExpectations
 

Concrete Helmet

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Welcome to my personal hell.....
BTW, 6 months....:bwahaha: :bwahaha: :bwahaha:
Just to let you know what you're in for dealing with contractors these days consider this...Over the last 2.5 years I had 2 bathrooms remodeled, 3 roofs replaced, 6 AC units replaced, one with all new ductwork, 3 buildings/homes repainted, one exterior deck/stairwell replaced, a new seawall built, one dock demolition and in planning for a new one constructed, one new septic drain field rebuilt, one major slab/foundation leak repaired along with new tile and flooring installed afterward, 3 new hot water heaters installed, rescreened the pool enclosure, new paver's and landscaping for our residence, new sod, 12 tree removals, replaced half of the irrigation system and pump, and a standby generator install that still isn't finished 3 month's later.......I'm sure I missed a few others but in all of that I would only fully recommend the Tree company, my AC guy, The contractor that built my Seawall, and maybe the Landscape/Paver company although I ended up finishing their job myself.....and he still hasn't begun the work on our office building with was supposed to be done last spring....

Good luck Buddy
 

NVGator

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Work with your trusted Realtor NOW and formulate a plan for the next 6 months to determine where your ROI is. A lot of what you listed wouldn’t give you the ROI in my opinion. Leave it to the next owner for what/how they want to make it their home. It’s my understanding that Nashville is a hot market right now so you should have some power, of course depending on where you are.
 

gingerlover

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Definitely get with their realtor and if they have a guy use him. He might be a little more expensive, but he won’t cheap out to keep his gravy train coming. If you do the search yourself make sure they are a local reputable company. All the bad guys are going to be in the panhandle soon. Don’t want shoddy work and then disappearing.

This brings me to another part. I know you can’t be there as much as you like, but document what you can as much as you can. If you are talking windows you want to make sure they are doing the waterproofing correctly. We document projects, mostly larger commercial stuff but the same mistakes they make are made in homes.
 

Tay Bang

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In my experience, and in one of my loved one’s experience, who is a bank VP, about nine in ten realtors can barely tie their shoes in the morning. And that’s out of a sample size of literally hundreds. Very few are capable of evaluating actual ROI on home upgrades or meaningfully participating in the planning of a home remodel. I would suggest finding a reputable GC via word of mouth who will then know the decent subs to use for each piece of work.

If it was my house, I would sell as-is unless something is totally mucked up.

I also only buy ready to move in houses. Home remodels are a nightmare.
 
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ChiefGator

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I don't know which way is best, around here Window World does good work on Windows and maybe siding for decent prices. Other than that I am not worthy of being listened to.
 

Concrete Helmet

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Window World does good work on Windows and maybe siding for decent prices
I knew I had forgotten something.....they did a full window replacement on our office building about 2 years ago and they did good work also. I'm going to use them to replace some of our French doors at the house. I'll update this thread when they're done and let everyone know how they did this time.
I'm also about to replace the gutters on our house but the company I used a couple years back at our office has a ton of horrible recent reviews. It seems like they are having trouble keeping good help according to the owners responses to the review.
I believe this is problematic to a lot of contractors right now. My landscape/irrigation person showed up at the office yesterday to start putting in our pavers, irrigation and sod/plants....hopefully he does better this time around but he says help comes and goes almost daily.....
 

jeeping8r

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Just drive down to home depot with an empty pickup and cash in hand... Instant work force
 

Gulfstream

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While I don’t value any of your opinions because you spend all of your time on message boards, I thought I’d still get some advice from the collective dorks.

I want to sell my home in the spring, and there is a bunch of work that I want to get done prior to listing it. It’s a lot of different things (replace windows, some soffit and fascia work, landscaping, interior upgrades to bathroom fixtures, some drywall work, tile backsplash, etc.).

I just don’t have the time or bandwidth to manage everything, especially over a 6 month timeframe. Any advice on how to take on these projects, manage budgeting, hire contractors, etc? Would it be worth my while to hire a GC to manage everything? What should I expect to pay?

Thanks for you knowledgeable experience and advice.


Good lord....what have I done?

Watching the last few games has gotten costly I see.
 

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