Yes please - remember chevrolet kitchen, not cadillac.

Agree with your last sentence, but we're talking about two different worlds. While yours may be the overwhelming majority of the industry, it isn't where the best work happens.

Is this even relevant for us normal people though? I guess the very best people who do the best work aren't on Angie's List but I assume they also don't do 50K home remodeling projects where most of the work is putting together stuff you buy from home depot or ikea or whatever? Wouldn't they charge a lot more and tend to work on custom stuff for rich people? Or is my understanding of this world (admittedly extrapolated from the software world) just way off base?

That's very interesting, thanks for this insight! We will probably be working on the house piece by piece so that's really good to know.

I don't think you're way off base, but you're probably overestimating how expensive and exclusive those people tend to be. One example that comes to mind is cabinetry. In most markets you can get true custom, built from scratch, for less than what a high-end cabinet dealer charges for a comparable product.

Also, when you visit that reputable home improvement company with the nice showroom, sales staff, in-house designer etc., all those people need to be fed. You're paying for that overhead. And half the time they're subbing out the work anyway to somebody you probably could have hired directly if you knew how to get in touch with them.

I used to workout with a very wealthy dude who flips houses as a side income. I asked him one time if he could set me up with a contractor. He basically said, in a very nice way, that none of them would be interested.

Is custom really any better quality-wise than high-end stock or is it more that you can make it exactly the way you like?

Isn't there some value-add in terms of communication and management? It would seem that subcontractors may have a harder time explaining what they are doing, understanding what I want done, or recommending the right things for someone in my situation. Also, assuming I have no idea what I'm doing, wouldn't they be better at managing and checking the work of subcontractors? They also have a longer-term relationship with those guys which makes it more likely that they will show up on time and prioritize the right things. I have a hard time seeing even the best people doing the best work when they are paired with customers who don't know what they are doing, don't know what they want and don't have the ability to check the quality or progress of work being done.

Again I have no real experience with any of this and mostly extrapolating from the world of software development.

The premise in doing my home shows is the contractors get to display tangible examples of their craftsmanship and offer new innovative concepts to people that otherwise wouldn't know what was available to them had they not seen it themselves. It is not much different than a storefront, which most contractors don't have, but in the home shows they see a much higher concentration of potential prospects in a short window of time and it generates huge lead generation for them. I have more than a few that had to cancel out of future shows for the sake of catching up on workloads.

fwiw the show I put on and most others like it will contain both high profile, well established companies in a given industry as well as mom n' pop private contractors doing the same work which adds variety and selection to my visiting public. As Zikzak said, your best option will likely be word of mouth and recommendations.

If that isn't a reliable source of information, then look up and call other contractors from non competing fields. They all generally network and know other contractors from joint projects. Lots of my concrete paver companies know and recommend good fence companies for example.

Hey Suzzer, tried PM'ing but your 'quota' was apparently full and couldn't accept new messages. Here's some contacts I had from past shows we did in Ventura for Kitchen & Bath. They are from all over SoCal and I haven't dealt with many personally but if we've kept them in our computer system then I know they were at the very least reputable and quality companies. We are quick to remove any vendors form our system that we get sour reviews or feedback from the public.

Most will be north of you between Santa Monica and Ventura, I don't know how to differentiate Chevy from Cadillac on these, most contractors will always take the work. Their abilities won't be restricted but you get what you pay for especially in home remodeling.

Creative Kitchen - 800.208.6553 in Long Beach
Prime Remodeling - 866.990.1155 in L.A.
Kitchen Connecton - 310.715.6301 in L.A.
Designer Stone & Homes - 805.797.0128 in Camarillo
Coastal Kitchens - 805.312.3324 in Camarillo
Showcase Kitchens - 805.482.5114 in Camarillo

This sounds very interesting and makes a lot of sense - thanks!

There's some value-add in dealing with really ****ty workmanship and other problems. I know someone who hired a contractor through Home Depot that did a really ****ty job and Home Depot ended up giving them a pretty big discount to keep them happy. However, I think you're overestimating the amount of communication/management being done between the big corporation and the contractor. I think in most cases its just 'fire and forget' after the referral and money is collected.

And I'm not sure its entirely worth it. I think its one of those things where again really good contractors probably don't need to go through a major chain. I could see the convenience factor being worth it if I had a small one-off job I wanted done. But for anything major, I probably want to take the time to build a bit of a relationship anyway. Because what I think I want done at the start probably isn't entirely what I want done by the end of the process and its better to know yourself whats happening throughout the job.

Thanks a lot!

Isn't that more of a straight-up referral thing and different from what zikzak is talking about here?

Wouldn't hiring a contractor through Home Depot be similar to going through Handy or Angie's List - they provide some assurance regarding pricing and maybe some recourse but everything else is up to you. But what zikzak is talking about sounded more like hiring a full-service company with a team of people who can take you through the whole process from design to finish without forcing you to specify everything along the way.

I always figured going through Home Depot would be super retail. Like buying something at Best Buy you can get on Amazon for half the price.

Ah, perhaps. I might have misunderstood what he was talking about there.

It can be better, but it's more about getting exactly what you want. If you have a high end budget it's silly to settle for something off the shelf when you can have something perfectly tailored to you for the same cost or less.

For a larger project, yes, having a knowledgeable and experienced person managing it is essential. And like ben mentioned, the showrooms and displays the bigger outfits (and home shows) have is a huge benefit to many people. There's a reason those guys capture the majority of the market. Although the management part can be done by a solo operator or guy with a small crew.

We seem to be talking about a lot of different things at the same time. It's kinda confusing.

Nope. Home Depot's contractors are dirt cheap and usually terrible, just like most of the rest of the stuff Home Depot sells.

Indeed. It's worse for me because I'm not actually sure what's different and what's not.

What are some good options if you want non-cheap, non-terrible versions of the stuff Home Depot sells?

Depends on what you need. If you want lumber, go to a lumber yard. If you want tile, go to a tile store. If you want tools, stick with Home Depot because they do so much volume they can crush everybody else on price. And if you want the exact same stuff Home Depot sells with better customer service, go to Lowe's.

Straight line winds took off a 5 by 10 or so section of shingles off our roof. It was too steep for me to repair myself so we stopped a contractor who was making some rounds in the neighborhood. He recommended we get the roof replaced. We said screw that, called up a friend in the construction business. He sent a roofing friend out there. Checked the roof out and fixed for under 300 dollars.

Still irked at the claim the roof on your insurance and call us and we'll be your guys play though I imagine it's standard.

A close friend of mine who I used to work with and does kitchens and baths now sells out of Home Depot as well. For him Home Depot provides the leads and financing. He doesn't even get his materials for the jobs from Home Depot.

So what's the consensus then on getting the right contractor? I'm in escrow now and want to do fairly significant upgrades (I think?) before I move in. I was going to go to Home Depot mainly because I though it would be safest play generally, assuming they would be dealing with generally competent contractors. What should I do? Looking at a 1000 sf of hardwood flooring and a complete kitchen remodel, plus some other stuff. I need the contractor to start a month from now. Is that even possible?

Probably not. Something like a kitchen remodel is going to be ~6 months from the first time you talk to your contractor to completed project. You're looking at a 4-6 week lead time for just the cabinets and counters.

The best way to find a good contractor is personal recommendations from friends/family/coworkers. Second best will be scouring the web for people/companies with good reviews. Home shows can also be a good source. Talk to several different contractors before committing. Get competing bids. Make sure you're going to be comfortable with whoever you hire, because they're going to be all up in your **** for weeks and you'll be dealing with them a lot.

biggerboat's been blogging about a big remodel he did and wrote a lot while he was looking for a contractor, so you might get some ideas from there. Here's where he starts that process of hiring someone. IIRC, you need to keep reading after you get to "I wrote the second guy a check for a retainer so I guess I made a decision," because I think he eventually decides to go with someone else.

Yeah, he dumps that guy pretty quickly and starts the search again.

I'm approaching my work a little differently than Biggerboat did. I'll have a complete set of plans and written scope of work. There should be no ambiguity in what I plan to have done. It will include a schedule requirement with liquidated damages for going over. I'll make that clear up front so the bidders will be sure to price the schedule in. That's why I'm (hoping) to have the all the work done in like two months. Not sure how realistic that is though. Might just cost me more.

Question, is is reasonable with the bids to ask for a breakdown of material, labor, and O&P?

I'm guessing most people will say it is reasonable and maybe they're right, but I hate it and quite possibly won't work for someone who asks for it. It's a tell that you're trying to just kill whatever is actually profitable for me, often down to trying to hire labor, even my employees directly.