Building the home of your dreams from the ground up or making renovations to your existing property can be an exciting time. It can also be a pretty expensive one, as construction can get rather costly if you aren’t mindful of what you’re doing. You likely are working within a limited budget, and you don’t want to run out of money before the job is done.
The residential framing contractor that you hire might just be the most important person that comes to your property. They are going to be responsible for creating the structure of your new project, and you want to be guaranteed that it’s done perfectly. You also want to get a good one that doesn’t charge an arm and a leg to get the project completed. Find out how to save money on your residential framing contractor services so you can have your construction completed while staying within your limits.
Review Every Single Detail
A good residential framing contractor is going to be willing to review all of the aspects of your construction schedule with you. You want to identify if there are any areas where you could save some money either by doing the job yourself or by eliminating different aspects. Some contractors will assume you want certain features and when they are presented to you, it’s something that you have no interest in adding whatsoever. You can save yourself hundreds of dollars by taking those factors out of your project.
If you plan on tackling any parts of the job on your own, you need to work out a schedule with your hired contractor as well. They are working within a time frame because they have other projects to work on as well. You have to be confident that if you take on the responsibility of getting something done that you do so in a reasonable amount of time and before they need to progress to the next step.
Price Check Your Materials
Most contractors will be given a job and then go to their own suppliers for the materials they need to get the task completed. While it can be a reasonable amount they are paying, they don’t care about the price because you’re the one that has to cover it. Talk with your residential framing contractor about the possibility of sourcing your own materials for them to use.
If you hire a good contractor, he isn’t going to mind if you provide them with what they need. That gives you the opportunity to take a list of what they require and check around to get the best price. If you don’t have a lot of knowledge on quality or what the materials are supposed to be for, you need to brush up on that so you aren’t buying something that ends up being useless.
Check at Least Three Residential Framing Contractors
Maybe you heard about a contractor from a friend or family member, so you just decide that it’s the one that you’re going to use too. The person that referred them had a good experience, and you don’t want any bumps along the road. While you may get the job done without issue, it might not be the most affordable option.
Take the time to get at least three estimates from three different residential framing contractors. You can get more if you want, but three is a good rule of thumb. You might be surprised to find that there is quite a variance in prices out there.
Discuss Energy Efficient Options
When your contractor is building your residential structure, you want to consider more than just the present. Think about what you are going to have to pay out in the future. See if there are any options for using greener or energy efficient materials that can cut down on your costs later on. It might cost you a little bit more upfront, but the investment will pay for itself in a very short time.
Keep Yourself Organized
As soon as things get messy, you run the risk of paying out more money than what you would have had to originally. If you don’t stay on schedule with what you have to do and what your contractor is doing, you can end up paying them more. Think about your contractor showing up to your home to do a full day’s worth of work only to discover things aren’t ready for them.
You can be sure they are going to charge you for showing up when they were supposed to, and they won’t be able to do any work. Keep track of everything along the way including the schedule, materials purchased, and any additional charges that may sneak into your home build or renovation so that you can review them intermittently and ensure that everything is on track.
