[Greenbuilding] doing homework

[Irina Golfman]

Leslie,

I am in the process of picking up the pieces of my green remodeling project 
after my "want to learn about green" contractor and I went separate ways. 
He was not the lowest bidder - actually the highest. We mistakenly thought 
that we would get what we pay for...

I checked the references and listened to smooth answerers to my questions. 
What I forgot to listen to was my gut - my first impression. I allowed the 
reasoning of other people to persuade me to hire the person who I knew deep 
inside was not exactly honest.

So my advice to you is do not rush into the project. Take your time and 
find the right contractor. And listen to your gut. You must have doubts 
about all of the choices that you are considering since you are asking the 
question. Wait until you interview the person that will make you feel 
completely comfortable (I rushed the process, spent lots of money with the 
wrong guy, have an unfinished project and an enormous amount of 
aggravation). I would not wish my experience on anyone and would be happy 
to talk to you off list and share my experiences for whatever they are worth.

Best of luck,

Irina



At 12:36 AM 1/16/2007, Bruce Donelson wrote:


>I have hired people for projects where I felt I did all the "homework" and
>it still turned out a disaster.  I had a guy just build a deck for me, and
>it was a nightmare.  I looked at decks he had built, talked with people who
>he had worked for, called the Better Business Bureau, looked at his
>license.  Everything was fine.  Except my deck was horrid.  Then I had
>another guy re-do it, did the same homework, and ended up with just about as
>bad a job.  The city inspector said I should not expect to have a good job
>done on this end of town - guys will build up to the quality most people on
>that end expect (which is apparently not very high).
>Personally thought that was B.S. and fixed my own deck, quit hiring people
>and started doing everything myself.  At least this way if it is screwed up
>it wasn't because I hired a dishonest / incompetant person and paid them
>good money.
>Granted, there are likely some quality, honest contractors.  But not that I
>have run in to and could afford.
>Sabrina
>
>Many times the low bidders aren't really covering their overhead. So it is a
>false economy to hire them, because they cannot afford to do good work. I am
>almost never the lowest bidder, and have stayed that way for many years.
>Also stayed pretty busy. Mostly, the really cheap contractors fundamental
>dishonesty is with themselves: they think if they don't come cheap they will
>starve. But they still starve.
>Myself, I would rather stay home and lose money than work for someone else
>just to lose money.
>Bruce Donelson
>A Better Builder
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Greenbuilding email list
>List info: 
>http://listserv.repp.org/mailman/listinfo/greenbuilding_listserv.repp.org
>List email: Greenbuilding at listserv.repp.org
>Managed by BuildingGreen, Inc. http://www.buildinggreen.com
>       publisher of Environmental Building News and GreenSpec(r)
>Hosted and archived by REPP / CREST http://www.crest.org
>
>__________ NOD32 1980 (20070115) Information __________
>
>This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
>http://www.eset.com

-------------------------------------------------