For most homeowners, home additions are a truly satisfying investment. More space for a home office, kids’ bedrooms, luxurious master bathroom, or house parties can never be a bad thing, right? Well unfortunately, shoddy work, bad planning, or unscrupulous people can turn what should be a wonderful project into a disaster. Our home addition contractors have had to clean up more than their fair share of home addition disasters in Toronto and Etobicoke. When any type of home improvement work goes awry, it not only damages your home’s appearance and function, but also drastically cuts down on your property’s market value while costing you a pretty penny. Take it from our home addition contractors, here’s what not to do when expanding your home.
From Our Home Addition Contractors: Avoid These Common Home Addition Mishaps
- Spending Beyond Your BudgetAll of our home addition contractors are eager and able to help you estimate costs and plan out your budget. But before you come to us, do a little research of your own. All too often, homeowners’ design plans have to be changed significantly or scrapped altogether because they were far outside of their budget. It’s a good idea to look up costs for materials, labour, appliances, and utility work in your area before you hire a general contractor.
- Dedicating Yourself to DIYDo-it-Yourself is great for fixing small things around the house or interior design, but we do not recommend tackling a home addition without professional assistance. Oftentimes, DIYers overestimate their skill set and underestimate the complexity of their task. Home addition contractors have the specialized tools, equipment, and expertise to get the job done right.
- Hiring the First Contractor on the SpotUnfortunately, not all general contractors are created equal. Some are less experienced and less professional than others and will leave you with little more than poor craftsmanship and a huge bill. Like for any job opening, several applicants should provide references, show their portfolios, and be interviewed about what they can do before you make any decisions.
- Not Matching Your Home Addition With Your HomeWhen designing your home addition, keep the structure, layout, and style of your home and the surrounding landscape in mind. Your new addition should blend in seamlessly, almost as though it’s always been there. Home additions that contrast with your home might be a turn-off for potential homebuyers in the future, and your neighbours now.
- Paying Too Much UpfrontOne of the best ways to get scammed when building a home addition is to give your contractor little to no incentive to produce quality work. Although all contractors require a percentage of payment up front, never pay them too much, too quickly. Hammering out a payment schedule in advance will help to keep your business relationship professional and uncomplicated.
With a little planning and research, your home addition project is more likely to stay on schedule and on budget with a beautiful end result.
Contact our Home addition contractors in Toronto today
Integrity Contracting is known for quality work, honesty and professional results that increase value to our customer’s properties. We know we can provide you with answers and solutions to your projects needs; we are qualified, licensed professionals – proven & trustworthy – who always deliver projects on time and on budget. We specialize in Home Additions, Framing, Basement Underpinning, Demolition and Excavation. Visit us on Google+.