Real Life: The Struggles of Finding Contractors for Your Renovation
Real Life: The Struggles of Finding Contractors
I think it's important to open up the curtain and share a glimpse of the "behind-the-scenes" of working on a historical home and bringing it back to life. This isn't HGTV, where home renovation budgets are astronomical, and homes are flipped in a few short weeks. I'm going to start a series that brings you along our journey with the John Brown House and gives you the truth behind what we've dealt with and what we are currently dealing with!
Buying the John Brown House and tackling the renovations hasn't been a walk in the park. We aren't experts in many things when it comes to home renovations, and we've had to hire quite a few things out. I'll be the first to admit that electrical, plumbing and masonry work are not our forte. I won't even pretend I know a thing or two about connecting wires! Brandon is at least knowledgeable in that arena. There's a common misconception that everything can be DIY at home, which isn't always true. While some of the projects we've tackled ourselves, there are some that we have left to the professionals.
If I were given another opportunity at a profession, I would consider becoming skilled in a specific trade in the construction industry. Since buying the John Brown House, we've struggled with finding contractors to help with those tasks that we simply can't tackle (either because we don't have the time or because it's beyond our skill level). Here are a few issues that we've faced during our contractor search in the very beginning:
Not having a network - we aren't from North Carolina, and we purchased a home where we didn't know a soul. We didn't have any connections that we could call upon to seek out recommendations.
Contractors didn't have an online presence - a basic local search didn't yield any results. The few that did pop up within search results didn't have very many reviews, or their presence was sub-par. It blows my mind how many contractors didn't have an updated website or an online presence. We are in 2022!
PNC network wasn't much help - I utilized the PNC database and called every contractor that was listed on their website. Unfortunately, the location of my property was way too far for those contractors to travel to. I expected a bit more out of the PNC in terms of assistance, especially since we are restoring a historic house protected by the PNC.
Burned by contractors - the few that we did call and speak with didn't always work out. One mason still has our deposit, but he never did any work (I guess he needed the money). The mason that we did end up working with was great for a bit, and then communication just fell off, and he disappeared. He did great work on our chimneys and brick walkway but never delivered on our chimney caps. I'm not sure what happened, and I'm disappointed in how that relationship ended. I tried reaching out to him and still have yet to get a response. I even referred him to others. I put way too much trust in people and in the end I get burned.
Turned to social media - I found a group on Facebook for the nearby town and asked others for recommendations. This wasn't a complete bust and I would recommend doing this if you are in our shoes. Just make sure you get a few referrals.
Contractors didn't want the job - so many contractors told us that our project was something they didn't want to take on. I get there are projects that some contractors just won't touch (due to workload, project cost, project size, etc.)
Labor shortages - this didn't help our search one bit. Due to the pandemic, we have an ongoing labor shortage/crisis. Construction companies are struggling to find workers and just don’t have the capability of taking on a project of this size.
These are just a few of the issues we faced in the very beginning when conducting a search for local contractors in the area. I'm glad we met a few great people along the way that have helped us and referred us to some great people!
We just started working with a contractor here recently, and I'm excited to document the process and project to give others insight into what it is like.
Update: We are no longer working with that contractor, due to communication concerns. We will hire out our own sub-contractors and manage the project ourselves. Blog post about this topic coming soon!
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