Yes, a general contractor usually does the entire house and you only deal with him/her and not with the sub-contractors which could be a good or bad thing.

Thank you; I tried one and he started with some work two months ago; have not heard or seen him in almost six weeks. Where do you go find a good contractor? I am new in state. Moved from Mississippi.

You could try Angie's List - angieslist.com. It's a service where people like you and I rate professionals, contractors included, in our specific area. You could also try your states Contractor's Licensing Board if you find one and want to know if they have any complaints against them. Usually all you would need for this is the contractor's name and city. Look at Houzz's professionals list for all kinds of services in your area.

That was my question; any thoughts on using the apps recommended professionals

It's difficult when you are new in an area to get good recommendations. I would stop in at your local paint store and chat with them about area professionals. Ask trades people for recommendations for other skills.Go to the pro desk at your local big box store and see if they will give you any names to check out. I might even go into the big box store and look for the professionals stopping in to buy parts or supplies. Ask them what type of work they do and do they know some good contractors interested in a new project.

Drive around the neighborhood and look for houses being worked on and knock on the door or leave a note. Bring some personal cards with you so you can hand one out if you meet a helpful person.

Before I got into the rehab business, I needed two flat roofs replaced on my own house and I used one of the recommendation services. Of course, the roofers we called all had high ratings, but the one we used didn't do a thorough job and ended up putting a new surface on a damaged deck.
We weren't thrilled with the service so we rated him in the middle for cleanup since we ruined a car tire by runnning over a roofing nail. He called me up and badgered me to change the rating saying that he would pay for the new tire if we just changed the rating we gave him.

I also know that Service Magic has a recommendation service which is more like a lead generation plan for contractors. Their "trusted" professionals major qualification is a credit card to buy access to the customer leads.

Any thoughts on Home Depot or Lowe's. I get a lot of flyers all claiming to be holier than though and mission to serve. If I could only find once such person in reality. Wonder if I should call a reality tv show!!

Years ago (long before Yelp and Angie's List), someone on the carpet installation crew from Home Depot stole my emerald engagement ring and two diamond eternity bands from the jewelry box in the master bedroom closet. Could not prove it, but it was a Home Depot contractor, to a certainty.

Would never recommend Home Depot.

Forgot to ask about sears; the house is pretty but nothing major has been done in 12 years when it was built.

HD pays contractors very poorly. So, their contractors are either not great quality work or the usual scam is "your basic door hanging only includes... but you need ..." where the extras are at an inflated price over the open market. If you want to use HD, be sure to go get a copy of the services price list. In fact, I have used the HD list as a marketing tool...if you go with HD, you can expect to pay separately for all the little things we naturally include in our price.

Also, my experience with Sears was a high pressure sales tactic on an elderly friend's roofing job. They persisted telling her house was in danger if her roof wasn't repaired immediately and they could start the next day etc until she gave in and signed up for a job which was close to double what she would have paid through a recommended local person

The folks at HD and Lowes are subcontractors and don't last very long with either one because the pay is so poor. We do not know of a single, well -skilled person that would take work from either one. They also don't do background checks on the people. The only qualification is that one is willing to work cheap.

We get calls from Service Magic all the time and looked into them. Responder above is correct, it is just a lead generation tool for contractors and SM does not care what the reputation is of the contractor. We do not know a single contractor that is considered reputable in our area that is on board with SM.

Look at your local home builder association's website (this would be an organization affiliated with the NAHB or you can go to the NAGB.org website directly and look for your area) and there should be a place on there for "Find a Remodeler" or something similar. You can also sometimes jump straight over to a contractor's website from there. Narrow it down to a couple and then check them out. Ask for references, check the BBB listing for each one, look online for reveiws.

Thank you Linda and Deborah: You sure have saved me some grief. I almost committed myself to go to one of those places. I think I will start with NAGB.org and price around with some local folks and see what they offer. I will keep you guys posted. Please let me know if you can think of anything else.

Tanvir

Sorry, that was NAHB.org - typo on my part. Stands for National Association of Home Builders.

Hi Deborah:

Thank you for your help. I found a whole bunch of them o that website; one I liked has an A+ rating. Should I research several before committing to one. In my backyard is a beautiful deer grazing at home !!

Tanvir

Love the picture of the deer. We live in a rural area and have deer. As old as I am, I am always taken with wildlife. We forget sometimes how fortunate we are - it's almost like we live in a park.

I would check with several and have them come out. Remodeling is about being highly competent in what one does, but is just as much about finding the right personality to work with you. You have to be comfortable that this is someone that you can ask questions to without being made to feel stupid or uncomfortable and that it is someone who is going to take the time to explain what is going on and what the issues are. Remodeling is a people business and it is also a solutions business and a communications business. Remodelers have to be good problem solvers and they have to know about construction techniques throughout history, not just what is done today.

Each company/individual you speak with will have a different approach in how they operate and how they price. Select someone that you have confidence in not just by price alone.

Good luck to you on your project - wish we were in Michigan, sounds like fun. Share your progress along the way.

Thank you again; I moved up north from Mississippi and lived in suburbs. The house I bought was because of its setting; almost half a mile of woods in to my back yard. Where do you live? I will keep you posted on everything.

Tanvir

We are in Greensboro NC but outside the city. We have a small 10 acre horse farm (no horses anymore) so on the back side of the pasture land we have a lot of deer. We also now have coyotes, which I am not wild about but they have kept down the field mice and snakes which is a good thing.

Don't forget to enjoy your remodeling journey and document with lots of pictures. It always amazes me how quickly people forget what their home looked like before the remodel started.

We have been building photo books for our clients on their entire project journey and they are so nice - nice to have a detailed photo trail from beginning to end - to re-visit or share - so take many before, during and after photos and think about a photo book!

As a general, we do not sub through big box stores because their contractors are a dime a dozen. Service Magic is also constantly trying to get us to buy their leads. They do not check to see if we are reputable. I looked up ratings and there are a large number of poor ratings for the work performed through contractors who went through SM. they have recently changed their name, not sure what it is. I can't speak from personal experience however because we do not advertise through them nor have I ever used one of their contractors. A majority of our business is through word of mouth/referrals. Contact your local chapter of NARI. Angie's List is also a great resource if you can't ask anyone. Good luck in your search!

Thank you; I will keep you guys posted. I cannot express my gratitude for all the info I got from sincere folks like you all. I did not get any help anywhere else.

Tanvir