Once you have a plan and are ready to consider contractors, protect yourself and your home by making sure you get the following information about each contractor or subcontractor:

• Length of time in business.
• References for projects completed. Ask to see current projects, too.
• Copies of contractor’s licensing, workers’ comp insurance, and liability insurance. Make sure all licensing and insurance is current and in force for the duration of your project.
• Copy of the contractor’s contract. Read it carefully to make sure that you are protected.
• Copies of estimates and warranties that specify exactly what the contractor is going to do, is liable for, and how long he’ll guarantee his work.

Good contractors are professionals and want to serve you the best way they can. Ask questions until you’re satisfied. If you can establish good relationships with your contractors, the dust and inconvenience of a home addition will be well worth it! Get A FREE Quote

 

Let's say the old homestead just isn't doing it for you anymore. It's too small or outdated. You'd like the kind of home they're building today -- with a glorious foyer, big windows everywhere, a huge kitchen and opulent bathrooms.   Should you upgrade the house you've got or move? It's a common dilemma.   With our early 1950s ranch house, my wife and I opted for remodeling. We built a kitchen and family room addition, converted the old kitchen to an office and put skylights everywhere.   By doing a lot of work ourselves, we saved a bundle. And we've stayed in a neighborhood we love, where our son has lots of friends.   On the other hand, we've been at it for seven or eight years and nothing is completely finished. I've lived in construction sites most of my adult life, so I don't particularly care. But lots of people don't want to live this way. They want the improvements done now. Or they want to move.   How do you weigh the pros and cons of the remodel-or-move dilemma?   Ultimately, you'll need to get some contractors to price your proposed improvements. And you'll have to house-hunt to assess the moving option.   But first, take a look at a month-old Web site called RemodelOrMove.com at www.remodelormove.com. It has an intriguing calculator for comparing the costs of the two choices.   The program asks 35 questions, starting with a couple of tough ones:   • What could you get for your home and what would it cost to buy one with all the features you want?   • Then it gets to the nitty-gritty. How long have you lived there and how long would you stay in it after remodeling, or in the one you might buy?   • If you remodel, would you hire a general contractor or manage the project yourself?   • How many baths would you redo?   • What about the kitchen?   • Would you add a second story?   • If you sell, would you do it yourself or hire a broker?   • Would you hire a full-service moving company or just rent a truck and move yourself?   The final 10 questions attempt to assess the hard-to-quantify "gut feeling" issues. How do you feel about the neighborhood schools and how important is that? Do you like the neighborhood and is it convenient to your work? Do you need the perfect house, one that's adequate or something in between?   I tried the calculator with a hypothetical suburban home worth $300,000, assuming that the perfect replacement would cost $400,000.   On the remodeling option, I decided to have pros do just about everything -- adding a bath, remodeling two others and redoing the kitchen. If I sold, I said I'd hire an agent and a mover.   But I said I loved the neighborhood I was in.   Result: The program suggested I stay where I am and remodel at an estimated net cost of about $50,000. This was the cost of the improvements and the financing for those improvements for the 10 years I'd stay in the house, minus the value I'd recoup when the house was sold eventually.   The cost of moving was around $89,000. About $34,000 of that would be for the real estate agent's commission for selling the current home and moving costs. And the estimate included $55,000 to finance the extra $100,000 I'd need to buy the new home. I wouldn't need the full $100,000 because I'd sell in 10 years.   Obviously, a computer's advice has to be taken with a dose of skepticism. The calculator does not let the user modify factors such as the interest rate on any new mortgage. And in real life, you'd need to gather your own figures for things like construction costs and mover's charges.   In the just-released report, a minor kitchen remodel and siding replacement led the list of most valuable projects, with an estimated 93 percent return. Mid-range bathroom additions and remodels were estimated to return about 90 percent of their cost. A deck addition that was said to more than pay for itself in 2003 fell to an 88-percent estimated return this year. Remodeling a basement or adding a sunroom brought up the end of the list of 18 items, with estimated returns of 76 and 72 percent respectively.   Keep in mind these figures assume pros do all the work. Skilled do-it-yourselfers can make many projects profitable.   The latest report is at www.remodeling.hw.net/.