Quality Building

 

Your Role In Building A Quality House

The law in your state probably requires that all licensed contractors provide a minimum one-year warranty on their labor and the materials that they provide.

Do not assume, however, that this is the case.  Nor should you assume that a contractor’s warranty takes care of the issue of getting good work done.  Your contract with subcontractors should specify at least a one-year warranty on all labor and materials that he provides. 

 

Having that, don’t assume that the quality work that you are entitled to is now guaranteed to happen.

Contractors, even the really good ones, can and sometimes do make mistakes.

Even when a subcontractor stands behind his work, as all good ones do, preventing mistakes is preferable to fixing them.

That is why you should take an active role in quality control.

 

I know that you probably have little or no working knowledge of the building trades, but you do have common sense and a pair of eyes.  Use them.

If something looks wrong, it’s possible that it is wrong.  Don’t be intimidated by the sub’s assumed expertise or by your lack of it.

Speak up.  Be assertive.  Ask questions and keep asking them until you are satisfied.

Remember that the subcontractor works for you.  He’s got to make you happy.

I’m not suggesting nitpicking things to death or being argumentative just for the sake of it.  Just use your common sense.

A Good Example

Recently, I hired one subcontractor to layout, dig, frame, and pour concrete for four concrete slabs.  The guy was experienced and had worked for many different general contractors in the area.  And yet, two of the four layouts had measurement errors that couldn’t be overlooked.  One other layout had had two unsquare corners and another was unlevel.

This type of mistake is elementary, but it happens because the job gets so routine that workers hurry and take things for granted

 

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