GTA Contractors Blog

Home renovations can be a very exciting time. It can also be a time of nerves and stress. Put all of that at ease by ensuring that you have a contract in place. A contract simply lays out what you are wanting to get out of your home renovation. It puts everything you agreed verbally in writing to guarantee you will be happy with the end result.

Why a Contract is Important

People don’t ever like to think about the negative side of things. Unfortunately, just meeting a ‘contractor’ and agreeing on everything verbally, just isn’t good enough anymore. A contract acts as your legal resource in case your project does run into problems. A contract can answer all questions upfront and significantly reduce any misunderstandings that could come up along the way. Any good contractor would have done a project like yours before and can anticipate some potential issues that could arise. They are there to help you throughout the entire home renovation. From beginning to end.

The Contract

Your contract will be different from any other contract. It’s going to be suited to you and your home. Being generic isn’t good enough, a contract should be detailed and to the point.

A contract should include the following:

• a detailed description of the work to be done and the materials to be used
• a clear description of any warranties
• the total cost, the deposit amount, and a payment schedule
• a work schedule with start and completion dates
• all sub-trades that will be contracted out and who will pay for those sub-trades

You may still come across contractors who will meet up with you, go through your home, jot down some notes, and give you a price on a scrap piece of paper. This isn’t good enough. Trust us. You might want to wonder why they don’t believe their work is good enough to warranty it with a contract. If for whatever reason, down the road you need to make a warranty claim you will be asked to show proper documentation on the work you are trying to claim. If you don’t have a contract, they can deny they ever did it.

Another thing to note is if you are hoping to participate in one of the government or manufacturer rebate programs; you will most definitely need a legitimate contract to qualify.

Deposit

OK, enough warm up, let’s get to it. The money.

NEVER pay in full BEFORE the work is done! This should be rule number 1!

We advise keeping your down deposit at 10%. This helps ensure the contractor will not disappear with your money and not come back to finish the job. This recommendation also helps you from losing your hard-earned money if the contractor declares bankruptcy before your project is complete.

Not to get too detailed about the law, but a right you have, and may not know about is payment postponement. You are legally allowed to retain 10% of the project cost for up to 45 days after the project is done. This helps with warranty work and ensure your contract is doing the job properly and not leaving you with issues and problems.

If you have already done some research and are ready to get a quote and contract from us, please visit us at; http://gta-contractors.com/quote

We look forward to working with you!

GTA Contractors