Tips

.plan ahead.

Building Permits for Residential are now taking about three weeks. Building Permits for condos and commercial take 3 months to a year. Plans can take from 2 weeks to four months depending on scope of work. After record increases in insurance, labor and material costs in 2005, 2006 and 2007 we still expect construction costs to increase 10% or more in 2008. Price pressure continues for raw material by China and India....but material costs will see price decrease pressure in the U.S. because of the tightening of credit for mortgages, which will decrease home building.

.choosing a contractor.

The best way to find a contractor is through word of mouth by friends, family, or co-workers. If you're new to the Island, the next best way is to pick up a copy of Hawaii Home + Remodeling available here or do a Google search. If those two sources don't work for you, the last place you can check out is the Yellow Pages.

After finding a sufficent amount of contractors, narrow your list to two or three. Having a list of ten contractors will give you information overload. The next step is to check out the contractors license and complaint history. You can view each contractors' license number and information here and you can view Seven Valleys Design/Builds information here. You should check to see that the license is valid and do they hold a BC license (general contractor can do nearly all the work) or do they have only a C license (which only covers only specific trades).

.complaint history.

On Oahu, you can call the Hawaii State Consumer Resource Center at 808.587.3222 or 808.587.3295 Monday through Friday, between 7:45AM and 4:30PM. Excludes holidays.

.interviewing potential contractors.

Take the time to prepare a list of and/or description of what work you would like done. Some of the questions that you might want to ask the contractor during the first meeting:

• What size of jobs does the contractor do?
• How many jobs does the contractor do at one time?
• one to four jobs is best for owners with a remodeling job
• five or more and you may become just a job number
• When could the contractor start work?
• Does your project require a Designer or Architect?
• Can the contractor do design, drafting, structural plans & permit processing?
• Approximately how long will the work take?
• Will the foreman for your project have an emergency contact number?
• Get the names and numbers for two or three of recent projects(last two years) that are similar in scope of work to your project. Do they have a portfolio or website?

Selecting a Contractor or Design firm that uses some kind of design/build concept is the most efficient. The budget and total scope of work is discussed in the beginning and a project that fits the owner’s budget is put together. This makes the most sense to us and we have been using this system for 30 years to the satisfaction of hundreds of home owners.