Is there an escape clause, for them or for you to get out of the contract under certain circumstances? Would you feel more comfortable with one?

You might want to have a trusted professional read it over and bring anything alarming to your attention. There probably won't be, but as we don't have a copy of it on here to read, I want to make that point.

Did you get references from previous clients? Are people enthusiastic about this person? Did you talk about how he/she would handle things that go wrong, because things always do. How have they handled problems in the past? Can they give you examples?

You need to feel trust in your contractor and have a good gut feeling about this. If you do, then I wouldn't be too worried about the proposal. Just read it and understand everything. Go through it point by point, line by line, and ask questions.

Best of luck to you in having a successful project!

We ask that our clients take the contract home and read it several times, very thoroughly. We never stick a contract under someone's nose and expect them to sign it on the spot.

Take your time in reading it. Think of discussions you have had regarding items and make sure they have been included - this is your responsibility as part of the process. The contractor may, in error, have not picked up on something that you said or asked for. Everyone involved in the process is human and something could have been misunderstood or not even heard at all.

We attach picture books of products/materials that have been specified and/or selected at time of contract signing. When we sign the agreement, we sit down with the client and go through the project description item by item, pulling out each picture and we say this is exactly what you are going to get (no more, no less). That doesn't mean that you can't change something - but a change will have a commensurate price change.

Good luck and be sure to remember to enjoy the process.

And have a no smoking rule as well. No smoking in the house or outside either. You don't want a collection of butts outside your door. Yech.

Make sure that if the floors are installed while there's still more work to do, that the floors are completely and securely covered with proper paper overlay taped down. If the construction will be in one particular area of the house, they need to seal off the construction zone against dust and debris.

Make sure your furnace is off when dusty/dirty work is going on, because otherwise it will circulate the dust throughout your house. Cough!

If you have pets at home during this time, you'll need to confine them to a secure area. Don't depend on the tradespeople not to accidentally open the door and let the pet escape.

Interesting point Doug - O come on now, you know you secretly really want to learn Russian.

Actually, it is a good point. Our contract says that the client is to communicate with us and only us. We specifically tell both subs and clients that we will not honor any agreements the two make for changes, corrections, extra work, etc. that does not go through us first.

Clients are told that no one will show up on their jobsite on any given day that we have not told them in advance they were coming and what was going to be done that day. We are on the jobsite every day at least twice a day, and many days all day long, and any client has a phone number on which they could reach us 24x7. There is no one but us that has the authority to change anything, to order additonal materials or to even speak to an inspector. We meet all inspectors personally.

We are in the remodel world so it is different, much more hands on. Even at that, I do think however there are probably times that no english speaking person is on the jobsite.

Great advice above. We set expectations around the following for remodeling GC's and subs: (1) No amplified music or talk radio on the job site (ear buds OK), (2) job site clean-up every day - spend last 15 mins. sweeping, neatly consolidating materials & disposing of trash properly, (3) if using the home's bathroom for personal use during the workday, be considerate of others (i.e. don't leave it a stinkin' mess), (4) let us know in advance if there are plans to cut any utility service during the day (water, elec/gas, phone, cable, wifi), (5) take reasonable precaution to protect floors, walls, furniture, etc. in the home in a workmanlike fashion, (6) mitigate dust, and (7) never, EVER block the garage doors with your truck(s) ... unless temporarily, with permission.

I'm not sure if this is something GC's handle, but I'll mention it. If there's a lot of dust created, it will probably set off the smoke alarm. If the smoke alarm is connected to a central station, the fire department will show up. Oops! So someone on site needs to be aware of this, and call the fire department and/or alarm company and put the house on "hold". Of course, this means if there's actually a fire, the alarm will NOT sound, so things should be set back "on" when dusty work is done each day. And workers need to be extra careful not to start a fire anyway.