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How to Get a Good Contractor
By John Krajewski

References is the number one way in which you can ensure that a contractor is a good one. Ask the contractor himself for references on past jobs, and do a little research to see what kind of information you can dig up. Remember that when you find a contractor that you can trust, it will make things a lot simpler for you down the road when you want to get things done quickly. Create a good relationship with your contractor by picking the right contractor to begin with – spend the time that is necessary and do the research into the quality of work you can expect! When searching for a good contractor, never underestimate the power of networking. Ask your fellow investors for references to good contractors they have used in the past, and hit up your local REI meeting- this is a great place to build your network and find quality contractors to work with. Finding your contractors this way will also help to insure that they are investor friendly and have experience in meeting investors needs.

In the real estate investing arena you will want to be able to bounce back from any “issues” that may arise. This is why it is important that the contractor you are getting has the right kinds of insurance. Accidents can and will happen on the job, and if your contractor is not properly insured there may be no one to for pay for these accidents other than you. A good contractor in the real estate investing business carries general liability insurance for damage to the property that may occur, as well as worker’s compensation insurance for situations in which a worker is harmed on the property.

Finally, you want to ensure that your contractor is licensed (make sure that you see the license and that it is not expired), a member of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry or the National Association of Home Builders, and is diligent about pulling all of the building permits that are required for the area. A contractor who is diligent about the paperwork aspects of the job as well as the on the ground aspects of the job will be one of invaluable service to you while you are working in the real estate investing sector!

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John Krajewski

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When I’m framing a home people always ask me why do allot of framers do things so different I say in the end its all the same every framer just has their own way of doing things just like in life. There is allot of homeowners that are real dicks and think people that do trades are alcoholics and druggies so they talk to us like we don’t understand big words. So they go around after we leave for the day and check everything that they think is important. One time my little brothers boss he’s one of those home owners well he asked me at the bar that the framers doing his house don’t know how to use a level because he bought himself a level and went around and levelled all the walls it was just before they craned the roof on. I then told him that there are two things with framing it either level or strait when you are craning the roof on you level the corners and then you use a string line from each corner that you levelled and line it all up and now you have strait roof the reason for this is to have strait roof lines and strait facia. So sometimes one part through the wall might not be level which is ok you will never notice it you will notice a crooked roof or facia the reason that it isn’t level came be a number of things from the ground up to the roof. But allot of times it’s not that big of a deal I’ve found it’s just the foundation wasn’t properly levelled or the guy throwing the concrete in didn’t scrape the excess concrete off.

One thing I have found out from seeing and hearing is there allot of framers that have a real problem with doing roofs one thing a framer needs to now is how to do a roof. A roof is the hard thing to do for a framer especially the way roof are done now I hear allot of old guys saying that they built better houses then us which they should take a look at and see that houses now a days are a lot harder to do but in their time they were hard for them. Back to roofs I have friend that built a new house with a respected home builder and they really dropped the ball on their house the framers that did the house didn’t know how to do a vaulted ceiling and they screwed up the rake wall in his bonus room. The idea with rake wall is making a continuous wall all the way to the underside of the roof trusses some framers I’ve see are either to lazy or don’t know how to do it which is the main reason I think. Like with anything especially with buildings you have to avoid having hinge points. Hinge points are bad because if you grab the wall it moves so that’s means if it’s windy the wall is going to move and now you going to have some real problems in the future. And it’s an expensive repair the contractor that you hirer to fix it will have to rip the entire wall apart so you will have replace everything. So that’s some of the things I’ve seen and heard about framing so if you have any storeys le me now.

I’ve been in the construction trade for a long time and this recession is kind scary but other trades are making it worse and the builder are loven it. It seems every where I turn the prices of framing is dropping there is these guys who just go out and under bid other guys by 30 to 40 % its crazy. And the builders like it I sure wouldn’t like to buy a house right now because these are the trades that have a hard time when it’s busy. The one thing that people don’t realize is that all the good contractors are good because they have the employees and they equipment to do the job that’s why they charge what they do. But the good contractors will adjust their price because of the recession they still want everyone to make money. Now the builders are opening up a huge can of worms by opening there bidding I me if you get a bid that is 40% less than your main guy looks great but is it no these guys are the guys you turned down or like do one project and then you fired then now you’re giving then the job because they are really cheap if that’s the way you what it then don’t lie to your customers and say you homes are built with quality there not. This stuff really irritates me there me and allot of my friends and allot of other trades that work our asses of to get where we are and get the reputation that we have so we don’t have to worry about not having work now that’s all gone. It’s sad to with everything that’s going on especially with building homes the green way the thing that’s most important about building a green home is the quality and right now no one getting that. So all you people building new homes watch out you might be getting the trade that does not give two _hits about your home then you will have problems with it forever.

If you are building a new home and you wonder which trades to hire check there references and look at their past projects if you can I me it’s real easy don’t always go with the cheapest they might not have very good employees. Good contracting companies will have good employees you can learn allot about a company by who it employees so keep that in mind plus if the boss drives a car or has a hunk of junk for a truck then he dose junk work.

Over the years lots of people have ask how you frame a home I usually tell them framing easy. I forget though that it’s easy for people like me allot of people can’t see how the building is going to look in the end they have a problem putting the blueprints to gather in the head to see the end product. And to be a good framer that is your job to look at the blueprints and talk to the home owner how it’s going to look and find out if there is any changes they want but make sure you and the homeowner but it in writing if there is any changes. So you and the homeowner don’t have a misunderstanding about the changes plus it makes both parties’ happy and that’s the goal.

Now that you have started the project you need to get a hold of the suppliers I had this problem with a supplier once the homeowner ordered these new floor trusses they where these web designed ones it was the first time I have ever used the so I asked the supplier for more information about them so that I would be able to install them right. The supplier said they were just like TGI’s there was no top or bottom to the trusses and I’m sure some of you have used these truss and now that there is a top and bottom. So we just continued got to the roof and found out the supplier screw up on the veranda roof mainly because you can’t see it because of how the blueprint were drawn up the designer didn’t have the right elevation on the plan but that wasn’t that big of deal the homeowner ended up with a free roof. The real problem came when the home was ready for inspection and they failed the home I have never failed a home inspection. So I was already on my next building then the home owner calls all upset that his home failed inspection on the inspection report it asked for the load rating for the floor trusses. Then I explained to the homeowner that we needed to call the supplier for this info so we did got that info and they fail it again this time I was there and he said there was something wrong with the floor it looks different then other but since there wasn’t to mainly floor systems like this he wasn’t sure but new something wasn’t right. After that I called the owner of the supply company he came down with his engineer to look at everything that the inspector had told me and on his report. Then the engineer told me that I had put 30 floor trusses upside down then I told him and they owner that you guys told me that there was no difference to the way you install them and that they never gave me any specs on them so it was their fault. They didn’t like hearing that but the dealt with it the right way and had to pay he to fix it and man was that a pain in the ass but we got it done and the homeowner was pleased. Next time I’m not going to start nothing till I get those specs those mistakes could have been avoided and everyone would be happy I was not

Like what is said in the about me post I’m just looking to help you with all your construction needs. There allot of things in renovating or building new that people have problems with some are simple or really difficult I’d like to help you with that. I’ve done allot of both and having to adjust to new product and new procedures’ sometimes it’s really difficult especially for experienced carpenter besides a weekend warrior. Now with economic times we are starting to build different and more responsible in a way to save our resources and our health. And if you are like me that is great but now we have to learn new ways to do things. So that’s a little about what in trying to do with this blog so check back often for new posts and comments that I’ll try and answer.