When deciding on the construction of your own single-family home, one of the most important choices, if not the most important one, is hiring a good construction crew. This is what determines the quality of the work done, and thus the comfort of using the house. What to pay special attention to when choosing a crew, which we will entrust with the construction of the house?
Comparing the offers of different construction crews
We can search for the construction crew on the Internet, in local press ads, or by asking friends who have already gone through this stage. When we’ve collected a large number of offers from various crews, we should carefully analyse all the offers, paying attention to the most important elements, comparing these offers with each other.
Checking the previous project implementations
Next, we should learn about the previous project implementations of individual construction companies. A good professional crew should have photos from previous implementations available for potential customers. It’s also worth asking for references or going to the places where the company has performed the work and see it with your own eyes, talk to previous customers.
Checking the qualifications of workers and construction equipment
It’s also important to check whether the company that we want to entrust with the construction of the house is in fact a company – runs a registered business. It’s also worth checking whether both it and its employees have appropriate qualifications. No less important is also to check what equipment they have at their disposal. All this is proof of the construction crew’s expertise.
Preparing scans or photos of the project, area, geodesic maps
In order to establish the details of cooperation, it’s important to show the construction crew what we actually expect from them – each construction site is different – house designs and areas where the house is to be built differ from each other. To this end, we should provide them with the design, house visualizations, geodesic maps as well photos of the area – all this will allow for a detailed cost estimate of construction work.
List of additional questions
It’s also worth preparing a list of additional questions about the construction itself, house design, or terrain conditions. This will allow for two things: first of all, we check if the crew is prepared for unusual tasks – we can assess their professionalism, and secondly, we receive answers to the issues bothering us.
Detailed cost estimate
We arrive at one of the key issues of verifying the construction crews, namely detailed cost estimate of work and materials. It should be noted, however, that we shouldn’t always follow the lowest price. In this case, we should rather pay attention to the level of detail of such estimate – what it takes into account and how it was prepared – it shows professionalism.
Determining the exact dates of work commencement and completion
The next step is to establish the exact dates for both the commencement and completion of the work. What to pay special attention to in this case? Hearing both the declaration about a very quick construction or a very long time should raise our suspicions – many types of construction works require specific amount of time, e.g. binding concrete – this can’t be skipped over.
Establishing the exact work schedule
The construction time is also directly related to the schedule of individual works. That’s an important issue which, apart from establishing the details, will also allow us to verify the aforementioned point – time needed for the construction of the house. In this case, we should pay attention to the details, and it’s worth asking a person we know that has knowledge about these matters for verification.
Drawing up a contract including all arrangements regarding the work to be performed
When we’ve already chosen potential contractors for the construction of our house, it’s time to draw up a contract. All arrangements with the crew should be written down on paper and signed by both parties. This gives us guarantee of their implementation, as well as the basis for possible claims in court.
Preparing a material cost estimate and attaching it to the contract
When preparing a contract with a construction crew, it’s also very important to prepare a cost estimate of building materials and attach it to this contract. This will give us assurance regarding the prices of the products needed for construction. It’s also worth noting that the contractors should provide us with receipts for any materials purchased.
