Contractor Problems

Quality

It's easy to see why things go wrong in remodeling. Every job is unique, making miscommunication and errors inevitable. The big question during a remodel should not be: Will something go wrong? It should be: How can the homeowner and contractor work together to solve the problem?

As long as the goal is to solve the problem and get the job done, rather than to prove who's wrong, there are ways to work out problems that should be tried long before legal action is considered. Here are things that can go wrong during a remodel and ways to solve them:

The quality of the work is not acceptable.

Before you bring this fact to the attention of your contractor, be sure it is a valid complaint. Nothing is perfect, and that goes double for skilled labor. To determine the level of perfection you should expect for your remodel, study the level of perfection in the rest of your house or in a newly built home during an open house. It's not uncommon to find, on close inspection, less-than-perfect paint jobs, tile jobs, and woodwork. Yet the overall quality is sufficient for most standards.

However, if the quality of a portion of your remodel is significantly below normal standards, it is time to approach the contractor or subcontractor. Make sure you start by being nice. Construction workers will often go out of their way to correct problems for homeowners who are kind, rather than caustic.