Improve The Contract Before Your Home

Maybe it is a necessity, or vanity, or maybe it is just those opportune interest rates. Whatever the driving force behind your decision, the choice to make home improvements should not be taken lightly.

Of course, an attorney will always advise that you have an attorney. There are numerous issues, potential pitfalls and other details that a lawyer is accustomed to dealing with that the sometimes unwary homeowner is not.

Taking on the task of supervising the improvement on your own as the homeowner is not a horrible idea, and definitely not uncommon. Perhaps the ordeal is nothing you have not been through before. You have learned the safeguards, and you will not make the same mistakes twice. There is also the belief that most of these things finish without a hitch.

Remember this: there is a first time for everything. The “everything” referred to is the seemingly increasing sour situations - bad work, delayed work, unpaid subcontractors, and the list goes on. These types of unpleasantries appear to be spreading within the home improvement business. However, there are many of them that could have been taken care of at the contracting stage.

Before you, as a homeowner, sign a contract with a prime contractor, some general issues should have already been ironed out. A couple of these generalities include a start date and a projected date of completion. You would be surprised at how many home improvement outfits want to leave the completion “hanging.” This will usually result in much homeowner frustration as it leaves wiggle room for the contractor drag your project out much further than you thought possible. You may not see any work done for weeks after the project begins. And you may find this situation intolerable in the example of a homeowner adding rooms with intentions of caring for elderly family members.

Other potential problems that can be avoided deal with obtaining permits, what materials will be used, defining stages of completion, and the big one: how and when the homeowner will make scheduled payments. Concerning the matter of money, you have the vested interest in knowing how your money is being spent. Contractors are to keep the equivalent to a trust account that is to be used only for your project, not to fund another’s.

Bear in mind that laws exist to protect you as the homeowner, ranging from Lien Law to sections of Wisconsin’s Administrative Code dealing directly with home improvements. Further, within those sections are provisions guiding the homeowner as to what items must be included in a home improvement contract.

Home improvement projects begin and end everyday with little to no heartaches. However, do not be one of those who assumes this is always true. You can save yourself hundreds in litigation dollars. In addition, spare your family the situation where you have no choice but to terminate your contract, leaving yourself exposed to a breach-of-contract claim, even if you were justified in ending it. Take some time and put some well-thought effort into the process before you sign the dotted line.