MasterWorks Atlanta is a remodeling company located in Atlanta, Georgia serving the entire metro Atlanta area. Bernie Smith, the CEO of MasterWorks, gives some advice on how to make sure you are getting the best product for the best price.
There are some very specific steps you should take to make sure you are getting the best price for your remodeling project. First, you need to find a remodeling contractor that has done their homework on finding and negotiating the best price for the parts and labor for remodeling your home. This will be a big investment, and you need to be sure that you can depend on the designer and contractor to have done their homework.
Having given a lot of estimates and understanding the usual outcome of price expectation, I can offer you some insight on how to make sure you get the best price for your project. We always go through the process of making selections and then working on getting the cost down. Since you don’t know what the price is going to be, you need a starting point to work from. Keep in mind, it is always extremely helpful to have an amount that you are willing to spend as a starting point. If you don’t know, then you will need some guidance from your contractor.
Once you have made your selections and you get your estimate, you need to have an itemized cost to understand how to bring the cost down. This is also where a contractor that has worked hard at sourcing the best prices will pay off. Now that you have your itemized cost ,you can review it with your contractor and work through ways to make the project cost less. You can discuss alternative finishes that will give you the look you want for a more affordable price. This will be best served with a design build firm as they will truly give you a hard number.
Why is a hard number important? If you get a contract based on allowances, you don’t know what the cost is actually going to end up being. If you work with a company that is not a design build firm, they will want to give you allowances for all of the finishes because they don’t have the staff to work with you on the selection process. This is going to be a mistake you can’t change once you start construction. For example, the contractor may call you and inform you that they need you to make a decision on the plumbing fixtures so that the job can progress, and they need it tomorrow. You will rush out to find that you can’t purchase the fixtures for the allowance so you spend more than the allotted amount thinking it's not that much. Then you get the same call for the granite countertops, but now you see the color you love but now you can’t afford it. If you had known this when you were purchasing the plumbing fixtures, you could have compromised on those to get the granite you really want. Now it's too late.
Regardless, you will need to make all of the selections, so do yourself a big favor and make these choices in the beginning when you can manipulate the budget. This allows you to spend less on the things that don’t matter as much to you and more on the items that do. This is the easiest and best way to reduce costs on your remodeling project.
In the end, you will be much happier and the job will be more likely to finish on time since all of the items selected can be ordered and waiting. Here at MasterWorks, we offer products for every budget and will work with you to get the look you want for the best price.
MasterWorks
210 West Crossville Road
Roswell, GA 30075
(770) 642-8000
www.MasterWorksAtlanta.com