Top Five Benefits of Hiring a General Contractor
If you’re ready to build your dream home, one of the first steps is deciding if you should manage the project on your own or hire a general contractor. With books, online videos and articles, you may feel ready to dive right in and construct your own home from the ground up. 
Before embarking single-handedly on the adventure of building a home, take some time to consider your decision carefully. While acting as your own general contractor can be an exciting and worthwhile experience, it also can be a complicated, technically demanding and time-consuming commitment. To ensure the end result of your project is a comfortable, well-built home for you and your family, consider the following:
Building Codes. The purpose of residential building codes is to provide minimum standards for the health and safety of the public. A general contractor deals with local building codes on a daily basis and is equipped with the expertise to comply with the rules and requirements.
Legal Issues. What happens if you, your neighbor or someone you’ve hired to work on your home gets injured while your home is under construction? If you’re taking on your own project, obtaining proper liability insurance is essential and may be complicated and expensive. Professional contractors generally carry both workers’ compensation and liability insurance to protect themselves—and you—against any unfortunate events.
Expertise. Building a home is a complex activity. Subcontractors can provide specific expertise but if you act as your own contractor you will need to consider your ability to manage the overall process. Do you know the order in which activities must be completed? A general contractor is familiar with the process from start to finish and has a deep understanding of the smaller details that are essential to constructing a quality home.
Project Management. Juggling everyday demands and family needs while building a home is a challenge. Home building is a full-time job. A general contractor is well-versed in all of the activities of home construction such as finding qualified subcontractors, monitoring their progress, ordering the right materials, securing permits and scheduling inspections.
Troubleshooting. An experienced contractor already knows about the pitfalls involved in building a home and can find solutions more easily because he or she deals with these problems every day. Small setbacks can turn into much larger issues if they are not handled quickly. A qualified contractor also has the expertise to prepare your jobsite for impending heavy rain or high winds. Bad weather can wreak havoc on your schedule and the quality of the construction.
For more information on home building or to find a building professional in your area, contact the Shenandoah Valley Builders Association.
that quality products will always cost more, but last longer. Hint: it’s probably more than you think it is. If you look at your home as an investment in your lifestyle and family vs. an expense, the bandage is so much easier to remove.Before: boring chandelier and vanilla wallsA previous client was using my Budget Worksheets and marking what she felt would be a good price point to redecorate her living, family, and dining room spaces. When she added up EVERYTHING on the list, she was at almost $100,000. Her comfort level was $60,000. She knew before she started the project where she wanted to be, and I was able to guide her through the process and make the best use of the dollars she had. And just an FYI – she’s the one who inspired this blog post. When we were talking about it later, she said, “We had saved the money and set it aside to do our home. Instead of doing it little by little, we decided to just rip off the bandage. Now we can enjoy our home every day instead of dragging out the process for years.”
I promised him that if he still hated it when everything was in place, we’d look at alternatives. In the end, he absolutely loved it. If this client had started second-guessing the design halfway through the process it would have completely changed the space. And cost him more money to select a new color and have it repainted.
having a baby”. By planning ahead and then living through it all just ONCE it can make it so much easier on your family & your sanity. Yes, it stinks to lose your kitchen for 6 weeks or so. But it’s easier than doing it in small increments and disrupting your life fewer times to get the space you’ve always dreamed of having. I can tell you from my own experience in this – my parents built the kitchen cabinets I designed.
It’s a moment when the clients get to see their space. The phrase I hear most often is, “I can’t believe this is our home! It looks like a magazine!” BINGO. We didn’t waste years of your life – it was all pulled together in just a few months. Even the Purple Project – which required removing three walls, gutting the kitchen, and refinishing the floors – was done within six months of the initial Consultation.
The reality is depending on the project dynamics I could probably draft several hundred questions to consider but the most important aspect is that the team that you are working with either as an owner, as a prime contractor or as a sub-contractor is well organized in answering and addressing all of these questions above and more. If someone is not asking and engaging you in these types of questions then that should raise caution!
