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What Contractor Would You Choose?
We are typically DIYers, so dealing with contractors is a little new to us.
So I wrote a little while back that my husband and I are rebuilding three large rock retaining walls on our property and we are trying to decide which bid to go with on the deal. First off, the original owner didn?t build the walls high enough, so we?ve had some superficial erosion and drainage issues. We?re rebuilding the walls to the proper height and terracing them to reduce erosion and to make them into nice garden beds to up property values. We have five bids from very different sources (Ranging from $9k-27!), but we?ve narrowed our decision to two different bids. One is from a big landscaping company and the other is from a contractor who is basically his own one-man show. The others we eliminated due to price and/or due to their availability.
The big landscaping company was referred by a good friend after we complimented the work they did on his rock wall. They have a fancy website with pictures of great-looking walls and several testimonials. They arrange all the equipment and materials (rock, gravel and drainage system) and said they can do the job with a crew of two or three over the course of about 1.5-2 weeks. The problem is they want a whopping $22k (after tax)! A good deal of that likely pays for their advertising and for brokering deals on materials and equipment (and for just rolling in bags of money in general I guess). They were our third-highest bid and we can comfortably afford it, but it?s near the top of our budget and it will really curb our desire to buy the trees and plants we had in mind when the walls are complete. We are negotiating for $21k and they will call tomorrow when the boss is back in to see if they can do that.
The contractor is a friend of a friend/neighbor (DH has had beers with him) and the guy is a true jack-of all-trades with a focus on outdoor projects. We?ve seen the work he did building our neighbor?s shop (which looks absolutely amazing), but nothing else. Turns out he doesn?t even have any pictures to show us, and admits he hasn?t done a rock wall in ?a few years.? He owns all of his own excavation equipment, but we have to arrange for the materials ourselves. We got separate quotes for the rocks, gravel and drainage (about $3950 all together), and will his bid the job would be just under $9k! He quoted us $5k for the labor, but he is technically paid by the hour; still, he said he can do the job by himself in about 2.5 weeks and he might be able to bring a buddy out to help if he needs to catch up. Our neighbor has worked on projects with him for years and swears he?s good for it and knows how to do the job we want. He was our lowest bid by about $3k and he?s made this offer under the table, which makes me a little nervous, but our second-lowest bid was also under the table and it?s pretty common for this kind of project. Plus, we?d have money left over to garden to my heart?s content and even enough to renovate our bathroom as we?d hoped to do in the next two years.
All and all, either is a risky decision to us. DH is totally on the fence. So what would you do if you were in my shoes?
Re: What Contractor Would You Choose?
Our little Irish rose came to us on March 5, 2010
Don't drink the water.
Disclaimer: I am not an MD. Please don't PM me with pregnancy-related questions. Ask your doctor.
Ask the smaller contractor if you can get more references where you can see some of his previous work. And it's perfect that he hasn't done walls in awhile because maybe you can see how it has held up. If everything checks out
If you don't mind managing the material yourself, this is a great way to save a lot of money but you will spend more time in it yourself where as the big guy will handle it all and you can watch from your backyard windows.
How close are the walls to your house?
It sounds like they need to be big - are they needed to maintain the slope - could the structural integrity of your house be compromised if they fail?
If their primary function is aesthetic / property drainage not near the house, I'd probably go with the lower cost, provided you have the time to deal with it, and fully knowing it could take him longer than expected. (He has insurance, right?) Also, I like the PP's suggestion of checking out old walls he has done before.
If this project has the potential to seriously damage your house if done wrong, I'd go with the more expensive, safer bet.
PHOTOS REMOVED
We asked both of our smaller contractor bids to provide pictures because they didn't have websites and they both refused saying they had no pictures (one told us to drive to a job he did about 80 miles away, which wasn't worth it for us, and the other didn't even offer any locations of a wall to look at).
Two are purely aesthetic, but one is quite important because we have a daylight basement house and the biggest wall butts up against the house and has to maintain the slope.
Everyone we talked to has insurance, but doing it under the table meant not having a contract or anything official, so we we'ren't crazy of that idea even if they didn't have insurance.
You MUST have three things: a license, insurance, and a written contract.
What do you think would happen if you hired someone to do this and he was injured doing this job? Well, if he doesn't have a license to do this specific type of work, YOU are liable for all property damage (even if it is your property) and all injuries sustained by all people. REGARDLESS of whether he has insurance. The handyman and his buddy could both sue you for hiring unlicensed workers.
Don't ever hire anyone to do anything without a written contract.
Then that would tell me that they aren't worth the money you save. If the high priced contracter is too high - then find another licensed professional (or two) to give you other quotes. The only way I would go with small operation to do any kind of construction or landscaping is if I knew them personally and was 100% confident in the work that they do. You apparently are not, so either go with the top dollar quote or get more quotes to see if you can get the cost down a little if you're really needing to manage your money.
One more thought on that - it never hurts to ask that top dollar quoter how you can get your cost down. Sometimes they can say, "Yeah, I can use this material instead of this, and that would bring your number down to $$$. This would be the pros and cons to doing so..." And I'd also ask if he can guarantee that his quote is not-to-exceed. Meaning, he can't come back and say, "Oh, misquoted how much rock I needed. It's going to be another grand..."
Annelise 3.22.2007 Norah 10.24.2009 Amelia 8.7.2011