Hiring and Handling a Remodeling Contractor

By Susan Wain
Robert Jalo General Contractor, Inc.


Perhaps the most important decision you are going to make in regards to your kitchen remodel, is not be which cabinets or which flooring or which color of paint. It may not be a “what” but a “who”. Your choice of contractor, the guy or team that is going to prepare your kitchen and then remodel it with those beautiful new IKEA cabinets, can make a very big difference. Although IKEA seems to suggest that any Swedish teenager can whip together a new IKEA kitchen, getting a nice result requires expertise. Getting a great result, requires thorough planning, knowledge (forsight is better and cheaper than hindsight) and a careful search of the contractors in your area to find the right one for your project.

Here are some basic tips:

1) NEVER hire an unlicensed “handyman”. Do it yourself or hire someone who has a license.

In California and other states, a “handyman” may do remodeling or repair work that costs, in total, up to $500. Over that and he is violating the law. If the guy is doing this, he’s probably not paying taxes also. Do you pay taxes? Do you trust someone who considers the only way to make a living is by operating illegally?

The licensing requirements in any state are for YOU. They project you against the unqualified and the irresponsible. As a note, a licensed contractor MUST provide you with a written contract that lists all the specifications of the project and the price. They must provide a warrantee on their work. If you hire someone without a license, and something goes wrong, you have little if any recourse. Don’t do it.

2) Get permits.

We certainly understand wanting to avoid this added expense. But NOT having a permit can be MUCH more expensive. It is EASY to get a permit for most kitchen projects. Swapping out cabinets usually does require a permit, as does plumbing or electrical work. But in many cases you can get your permit online (LA County, Santa Monica), or with a quick trip the your city offices (Pasadena). You pay a couple hundred bucks. You may need to get an inspection. Don’t worry about it. If you’ve got a licensed contractor, he’ll cooperate with the inspections and remember, this is your city making sure your contractor did the work correctly and safely. It’s a bargain.

Some larger remodeling companies will get permits for you. This may seem like a desirable way to go but believe me, you’ll pay a lot for this service. Owner’s can get permits more easily and with less cost so just do your homework, call your city offices, and learn how. You’ll be glad you did.

Did you know that if you go to sell a property that has been remodeled without permits you may either not be allowed to include the upgrades in your assessed value or, worse, you will be required to pay penalties AND permit fees or, worse still, you ‘ll have to tear out all the upgrades in order to sell the property.

Get required permits. It’s easier than you think.

3) Get a contract, read it carefully, and honor it.

A contract is a written agreement. It is your contractor telling you the rules by which he works, what he expects of you, what you should expect from him. To a great degree, the language of the contract is determined by the legal requirements for contractors in your state. But your contactor can add any statements he feels will clarify the terms of the job.

We have known people to be in such a hurry to enlist our services, that they sign the contract without reading it. That is a mistake.

A contract is legally binding. This means that if you signed a contract for a company to install 20 cabinets and 45 sq feet of countertop for $5000, you have to carry through and allow them to do the job and then pay them for it. You can’t change your mind halfway through. Or two days before the job starts. Well, you can change your mind, but you remain liable for the $5000.

Here is an example of how NOT to operate:

You sign a contract with ABC Remodeling to install 20 cabinets and 45 square feet of countertop. The contract states the job will start on June 15. ABC crew shows up on the 15th.

1) You forgot to call them and tell the owner that your flooring company is running late. ABC has scheduled your job. They have every right to bill you for lost time. The contract says this but you just thought they’d be nice about it. But the delay costs ABC money, including but not limited to wages for their crew!

2) ABC installs 10 of your cabinets. Your brother-in-law comes to town and tells you he could do it for you for free. You call ABC that night and tell them you don’t like their work and are firing them.

You can’t fire someone with whom you have a contract. They are not employees. Even if they botched the job, you are required by law to allow them to fix the problems and only if they won’t, do you have a legal foot to stand on. If you just fire them, you are legally obligated to pay the entire contract balance. That’s right. Even if they botched the job. You MUST let them fix it. You can’t be upset and angry and refuse. You stand to lose $5000 so keep it friendly and communcate in a business-like fashion always.

3) If things get nasty anyway, settle. Expect to pay for work that was done. Even if you have to hire someone else to finish the job, you have to offer to pay a fair amount for what was already done. Propose a solution. And before you pay whatever you are going to pay, request a Release. This will legally dissolve your legal obligations, and ABC’s. A proper release is often conditional on a payment being made. Once the check clears, the release becomes unconditional. This is the only way to get out of a contract without a lot of stress. In California, a contractor who does work for you and isn’t paid has the right to file a lien against your property (and it is easy for him to do this) and sue you for the entire contract balance.

This is not meant to scare you. Just require a contract, read it carefully, and if you sign it, be prepared to honor the agreement that it is. And require your contractor to do the same. If his work is bad, make him fix it. If he won’t, then and only then should you considering breaching the contract. But always keep communicating and do it in a business-like fashion. Chance are good your contractor wants to correct anything you are not happy with. Treat him with respect and assume he has good intentions.

The last point I want to make may be the first one to consider. Let’s say you request a bid from a remodeling contractor for your IKEA cabinet installation. He takes the time to prepare a helpful, detailed cost list for you. Don’t call him up and tell him his prices are too high. Don’t try to argure him down. Of course you can tell him you are only willing to pay $100, and not the $130 he is asking (for some service). But don’t tell him his price is high because you would not like someone to tell you that your salary or your prices are too high. They are what they are. This contractor may be a lot better in many ways than the guy who charges $100. It may be impossible to get the $100 guy on the phone. Impossible to get him to adjust the handles which go crooked every week. You get the idea. We operate on the Golden Rule. We know some people who don’t even try. Life is short.

Thanks for listening.

Creative Use of IKEA Cabinets

I thought it might help to explain why it is that, although we are remodeling contractors, we offer an IKEA kitchen design/planning service. We offer this service to ensure that our (potential) remodeling customers have a truly optimal layout. The service also ensures that the remodeling requirements and costs to achieve the finished result the customer wants can be planned out knowledgeably. It's a really worthwhile service I recommend without reservation.

Why do I "sell" this service to people who call? It's simply because we know, after hundreds of IKEA kitchen projects, that having a expert installation contractor AND a pro designer on your team. will get you a much better kitchen. One key is their ability to use IKEA cabinets creatively.

The IKEA software enables you to place cabinets along the walls of a kitchen. A 30 inch cabinet fits in 30 inches of space. It has 3 drawers or two shelves, etc., all the standard IKEA cabinets, as seen in their catalog.

A kitchen designer who is expert with IKEA cabinets, knows how to use these cabinets in many more ways than the software allows you to do. He knows how to avoid installation problems, such as when six feet of cabinets in six feet of space creates a problem (e.g., the oven door won't open) that holds up your installation for days while you re-design and exchange cabinets or appliances. An expert IKEA designer knows how to mix and match component parts and can customize cabinets to elegantly solve design issues in a particular kitchen.

I could not overstate how many more options you have with IKEA cabinets than you might realize, using only the standard cabinet sizes and configurations, and the IKEA planner software or their catalog's cardboard design kit.

Using these cabinets creatively, alterations to cabinets or to the kitchen itself can be proposed. Have a contractor who has years of experience with IKEA kitchen cabinets provides you with the immediate knowledge of what the alterations involve. If you think it'll cost a lot to move your sink to the other side of the kitchen, you may not even consider it. If your designer proposes this and at the same time, an expert installation contractor gives you a price of $200 to run the plumbing lines, well, your dream kitchen may start to come into view. And this is a real-life example.

Here are two more quick examples of recent projects in which the creative design of IKEA cabinets and expert planning service resulted in a much better kitchen remodel than the customer ever expected to achieve:

1) Lovely smaller home in Altadena. Customer wanted kitchen remodel. Designer and contractor went out for planning service appointment. Upon inspection and based on customer budget and their "dream kitchen" ideas, it was worked out that removing a small wall between kitchen and laundry area and moving the kitchen to current dining room location and dining room to kitchen location would result in a much larger and lighter living space that would serve the homeowners needs much more than the small, closed-in rooms they had. The cost of wall removal, electrical and plumbing, new lighting and even moving a large picture window from dining room (view of neighbor's house) to kitchen (backyard view), was well within the customer's $15,000 budget.

2) A customer in Brentwood had gotten a quote of $36,000 to remodel three small bathrooms. Customer wanted a European look. Our designer drafted layouts with IKEA refrigerator cabinets altered to fit into narrow bathroom spaces, and customized with drawers. Minor plumbing alterations were needed. We completed the three bathrooms for under $9,000. Fabulous, European-style bathrooms.

Bottom line: spend a bit on professional design and include an expert installer/contractor on your planning team. In Los Angeles, just call us. Elsewhere, we can do your planning via email, but make sure you bring an expert installer in once you have the design work done, to ensure everything comes together just the way you envision it.

Susan

About IKEA Cabinet Quality

Almost every potential customer that calls our office asks us about the quality of IKEA cabinets. We're in an interesting position in that we don't SELL these cabinets (we don't sell anything for that matter, we only provide service), and we yet promote them in an indirect way.

It could be construed that we promote them because we install them. In other words, you might think that we encourage people to use IKEA kitchen cabinets for their remodels in order to create more business (designing and installing).

I keep this in mind when I recommend that a customer who is undecided at least makes a trip to an IKEA to look at their cabinets. Our purpose never has been to promote any particular product. What we sell are skilled remodeling services performed with integrity. So why do we narrow our focus to IKEA cabinetry?

It's really simple and probably obvious. Over the course of 30 years of remodeling work, and seven years installing kitchen cabinets. we've had to conclude that, for the majority of homeowners on a moderate kitchen remodeling budget (say under $20,000, although half that is common), IKEA cabinets are simply the best choice.

In terms of quality, a hands-on comparison would prove to most homeowners that IKEA cabinets meet or beat cabinets costing 2 to 3 times as much, the big box store offerings. The same is true, as far as we've seen with over 600 projects, with durability.

This is not to say there are no other great cabinets on the market. I love Venicia, Kraftmaid's European-look line. with sizes and options you can't get from IKEA. But the price tag on a kitchen layout priced with Venicia can be three or even four times the cost of IKEA cabinets. Is it better? In terms of quality, we don't think so. Does it look better? Maybe a bit if you're a dedicated student of line and form, but not enough, for a majority of homeowners, to justify spending $28,000 on cabinets when $7,500 would buy the same layout from IKEA.

I don't know how the IKEA corporation manages to sell this quality cabinet at the price they do. I just know that the completed kitchens we've designed and installed look amazing and the homeowners, one for one, are utterly pleased. I know of none who feel they compromised with their choice of IKEA cabinets.

This said, starting with these beautiful, high quality and affordable cabinets, the secret to a beautiful remodeled IKEA kitchen, is to enlist the help of a professional designer to work out the optimal layout, and a professional, expert contractor for installation. These can make all the difference. Those displays at IKEA were designed by pros and installed by pros. It's not just the cabinets.

So, I guess I'm always selling.

Hope this helps you,

Susan

IKEA Cabinets for Bathrooms

I wanted to mention bathrooms. We spend a lot of time on kitchen design and installation using IKEA cabinets, and might forget to discuss IKEA cabinets for bathrooms.

We've installed quite a few cabinets, kitchen cabinets that is, in bathrooms. These cabinets are mostly 24 inches deep (although there is a 12 inch deep option for some). For many bathrooms, this is just too deep, the room is too narrow or small. So the key is to design with knowledge of cabinet alterations. A skilled installer can cut back the depth of the cabinet while keeping it structurally sound. A skilled installer can make cutout for plumbing, and can even make alterations to the drawers so that they work with plumbing fixtures.

With this know-how, you can use the many styles of kitchen cabinets for a bathroom. One of the most elegant we've done utilized refrigerator cabinets for bathroom sinks. These were hung on the wall (no legs). The look was really amazing but it did take a team of designer and contractor to work it out. In Los Angeles, we can do this for you with IKEA cabinets. You can have a European style bathroom at a fraction the cost you'd pay for European style cabinets.

There are also designated IKEA bathroom cabinets. Their quality is similar to the quality of their kitchen cabinets but engineered differently. You have many fewer choices but it's easy to plan with them because of this. Just get the bathroom cabinet 3-page foldout that shows the cabinet styles and sizes and options.

Just wanted to mention bathrooms. Add some tile trim, some nice lighting, and you can have a beautiful bathroom to come home.

Susan

Best Green Kitchen Investment

Along with the many creative choices a homeowner has while kitchen remodeling, there are a few choices that can result in better health for you, for your family and for our planet.

My top suggestion, whether or not you are remodeling your kitchen, is to invest in an under-sink water filtration system. The plastic canister types are also good (Brita, etc,) but not as convenient. A high quality under-sink filter can cost as little as $75 (check out what Sears has to offer). Installation costs vary but expect to pay about $250. Reverse osmosis systems cost upwards of $300 plus installation. Do the research and pick a product that suits your needs.

Here are some benefits:

1) you can use tap water for cooking and drinking again!
2) your water tastes better
3) your coffee tastes better
4) you don't have to carry home plastic water bottles
5) you avoid the health risks associated with plastic water bottles
6) you don't contribute to the problem of plastic water bottles that take 1000 years to begin to decompose. In 2006, 38 billion plastic water bottles ended up in U.S. landfills.
7) you save money. Bottled water costs between $1 and $4 per gallon, (90 percent of the cost is in the bottle, lid and label)

Thanks for reading. We're happy to give you a big discount on filter installation.

Replacing Versus Re-Facing (kitchen cabinets)

Contemplating refacing your kitchen cabinets? Think you might save a bundle by doing so? Here’s my piece on how we see it, but you can always get a quote on refacing anyway, as long as it’s a free, no-obligation and no-pressure, quote, and as long as you get a quote on entirely new cabinets (especially IKEA cabinets) also.
Here are the logical rules:
Done right, it costs less to REPLACE than to REFACE. Often many thousands less.
The results are almost always FAR better if you REPLACE than if you REFACE.
You’ll have NEW cabinets if you replace. You’ll have OLD cabinets if you reface.
A modern, European style kitchen is almost impossible to achieve with refacing, unless you are prepared to spend A LOT of money.
Exceptions: (Just two).
If you have fabulous countertops that cost a lot and that you want to keep, refacing may be your best, or only, option. Although it is possible to install new cabinets under fixed countertop, it is risky and not necessarily the best overall solution for a kitchen upgrade. However, if this is your only option, find a licensed contractor who specializes in exactly this type of project, get references for exactly this type of project and call the references (you should always ask for and call references for any contractor you consider hiring).
If there is some other unique issue or situation that makes refacing a better choice. In our experience, this is pretty rare. It is almost never the case when the homeowner wants a modern, European look.
How we came up with these rules:
We designed and installed hundreds of IKEA kitchens, including small ones and big ones, budget kitchens for small condos, and full remodels of big kitchens (in La Canada and Brentwood and Malibu)
We found out the average price for refacing a typical kitchen.
Hands down, replacing old cabinets with even the most expensive IKEA styles, is the less costly, and far better choice.
As a final note, as I’ve written earlier, most homeowners assume that it is least expensive to keep the existing kitchen footprint. In other words, it is common to assume that moving a sink to a different wall, or putting a cooktop on an island, would be very expensive and/or make their project much more complicated. This is not necessarily true since moving utility lines can be quite simple in many cases. And sometimes, you can have a much, much better kitchen by doing so.

How Much Should a Kitchen Remodel Cost?

According to my sources, the American Kitchen and Bath Association says that the average kitchen remodel in the U.S. costs $47,000.

ARE THEY USING CABINETS MADE OF SOLID GOLD?

Our company regularly completes truly beautiful kitchen remodels that cost the homeowner UNDER $10,000. When a customer chooses a countertop material such as Corian or Caesarstone, their costs can go up to $20,000, including some extras such as cabinet lighting, tilework, flooring.

I really don't know where this $47,000 figure comes from. I cannot figure out how, using IKEA cabinets you could, if you wanted to, spend $47,000. Gold faucets? Marble counters, shipped from Italy? A 5000 square foot kitchen?

Sad to say, we know that homeowners are spending MORE than $47,000 on kitchen remodels and never realizing that there are other ways, other materials, without compromising quality, durability, or beauty, that are available to them. Maybe it's a status thing?

We always hope to have a chance to point out the type of amazing results that can be attained for a much lower cost. Many customers have already decided on IKEA cabinets when they contact us. We provide professional design so that the kitchen, once installed, serves their needs and pleases them aesthetically, and is optimally laid out for function and enjoyment. This is truly a vital part of the process.

It may be that people assume IKEA cabinets will be comparable in quality to some of their other furnishings. This is understandable. It is not factual though. IKEA cabinets are, in fact, higher quality, and carry better warranties, than some brands that cost three times as much.

It is true that if you go to a "big box" store, you'll get design help on the spot. This can be comforting but it comes at a very big price. You will almost never have the option of European styling, and, more to the point, your final price is almost inevitably going to be at least twice what you would pay for IKEA cabinets plus installation. Those big box stores, once they've sold you on their cabinets, assume you will want their installers and you will probably feel they are most qualified. If you go this route, make sure you meet your installer before signing up for his service. Don't assume the big box store is guaranteeing his accountability.

Going the IKEA route, it initially seems that you have to do the design yourself, which makes most people nervous right from the start. Or you have to locate a designer. There are only a few people in the LA area, and likely in any area, truly qualified to design IKEA kitchens. It is a unique system, not like any other, and knowing the products is vital. A kitchen designer who has limited IKEA experience is not the best choice. If you are in LA, give me a call, 626-203-1480, and I can provide more on this point or schedule our $275 planning service for you. It's the best planning service I know of. We ensure you have a great layout, an expert contractor to consult with, and that you have labor and materials costs known before you get started. We've developed this service over years of experience and discovery of what homeowners really need help with in order to confidently move forward. We really want people to be thrilled with their new kitchens. If you have $3000 or $30,000 to spend, treat yourself to professional design. As they say, you'll be glad you did. It is certainly worth $275, no matter your budget. In fact, doing it right the first time is one of the best ways to save money.

This post is meant to simply confirm what most readers already know. IKEA cabinets are very high quality and cost much less than big box and name brands of other types. In any economy and no matter the reason, "Kabinet King"-type companies are NOT recommended. Call to discuss my view on these.

Installation, if the planning is done well, can be very affordable also. Your choices determine your costs to a very great extent.

The bottom line here is that you can spend under $5000 and have a brand new small or condo kitchen. You can have a fabulous big kitchen completed for well under $20,000. We do this all the time.

Susan