expensive” “Today, I would prepare differently. Above all, I would seek advice from someone experienced and plan everything more carefully, think things through, and not make decisions so impulsively,” says Mr. Petr, who now lives
in his “new” home, but it cost him an unnecessary amount of stress and extra money. So how do you make the right decisions when choosing contractors, and what should you prepare for when renovating an old apartment?
When renovating an old apartment, the key is to plan everything out first. The best solution is to find an expert who will draw up something like a “renovation plan,” where they schedule the tradespeople’s work so that the work of individual specialists builds on one another, avoiding unnecessary downtime and preventing the renovation from being unnecessarily prolonged. This step will be easier if you find a company that offers so-called “turnkey” renovations.
Choosing the right company to carry out your project will save you a lot of money and, above all, a lot of stress. Unfortunately, due to his lack of knowledge, Mr. Petr accepted the first and lowest bid, and his renovation stretched from the originally promised five weeks to an endless five months and ultimately cost twice as much as Petr had anticipated.
Where did he go wrong?
The main mistake was that he didn’t check the references of the company that was supposed to carry out the work and didn’t look into their previous projects. The owner described in detail when and how everything would proceed and informed him about the financial aspects of the renovation and the time required. That’s when Mr. Petr made another mistake. He didn’t sign a contract with the company.
Drawing up a contract for the work is an essential step that must be taken right at the beginning!
This document must include a list of the work to be performed and the materials to be used; it should also contain technical documentation and, above all, deadlines for completion. In addition to the completion deadlines, penalties for failure to meet them must be included.
It is also necessary to determine the form of payment. It is reasonable to pay advances only for materials, against invoices. Payments for partial work should be made only after the work has been completed and personally inspected to ensure its quality.
“If I had consulted someone with more experience back then and drafted this contract, I would have saved a lot of time, money, and stress. Unfortunately, without a contract, I had no recourse against the fraudster. The work dragged on, he took money upfront for work that wasn’t even finished yet, and in the end, he handed over the apartment unfinished, and everything was done very unprofessionally and poorly. Because of this, I had to pay other professionals to finish the work…” concludes Mr. Petr.