Maintaining Good Builder Relationships

As a home owner, you are likely going to get some renovation or repair work done on your home in the near future. To make sure your renovation project goes as smoothly as possible, you are going to need the services of a good builder. However, you can do more than just manage to get the services of a good builder. Maintain a good relationship with a good builder, and you’ll never have to worry about any renovation work you might want done through the years.

To help you in maintaining good builder relationships, here are some tips.

Maintain open communication with the builder

As with all kinds of relationships, open communication is a crucial factor in maintaining good builder relationships. Since you and the builder will be working very closely during the renovation, it will certainly be essential for communication between the two of you to be always a two-way street. You express what you want done very clearly, while the builder should be perfectly honest about what can be done as well as any issues that might come up during renovation, particularly those that might drive the overall cost higher. Talk on a regular basis as you check progress onsite, and you will be maintaining a good builder relationship soon enough.

Understand what happens during the stages of construction

A builder is likely to have a better working relationship with a home owner who fully understands what happens during construction work. Unfortunately, many home owners don’t, and the result, more often than not, is predictably bothersome.

Let’s say for instance that you want to change the position of the shower at the last minute, but the plumber working on it has already done the ‘rough-in’, which is the installation of the waste, drain, vent, and supply lines to each fixture according to their planned locations. Asking to change the position of the shower in this situation would be tantamount to telling the builder to do things all over again, and that is something builders who have done nothing but follow the plan would certainly not appreciate.

To avoid similar misunderstandings in the future and lay the foundation for a good builder relationship, you should have knowledge of the five major stages of construction—slabs laid, frame and trusses, roof and brickwork, internal linings and timber mould out and final and practical completion—and a complete understanding of what happens in each one.

Get everything in writing

A good home owner-builder relationship is a professional one, and what makes it really professional in the strictest sense of the word is the existence of written agreements for both parties to follow to the letter. So make sure that everything about your renovation project is put down in writing with the appropriate signatures. When everything is written down, both you and your builder have a very clear reference on things that you have already discussed about your renovation project and things that you may still need to address in the future.

Choosing the right builder and maintaining a good relationship is crucial for your home renovation project’s success. Tradebusters can help a lot in that regard. Tradebusters has a network of skilled, experienced and highly recommended builders who can help you get that renovation project off the ground. With one call, you will be able to meet with builders with whom you can have a potentially a long-lasting and productive professional relationship.