It's almost a week shy of one month since the fire to my home and finally things are starting to roll. My house is two levels, with the main level on the second floor, and basically the whole second floor was damaged and will be redone, including the entire roof. The backyard deck burned down and we're now replacing it with a concrete patio, more out of paranoia since that's where the outside firecracker landed and started the fire.
We've since decided to use the contractor our insurance recommended, but not before checking out their details, gathering a few outside estimates of our own, and insuring any changes to the structure of the house will be accommodated. The first time we mentioned the small changes we wanted made, the contractor, Wingard Construction out of Concord, made it sound like we'd owe more money on top of what was covered, but it's not my first time taking apart a plan and searching line by line item to get things done the way I want. My advice to anyone who gets a detailed estimate from a contractor, be it for reconstruction due to damages or for general work on your house, take the time to go through each line item and get estimates from multiple contractors. All contractors will pad their estimates and it's up to the home owner to catch it. For us, we don't care if the contractor increases margins for themselves, this fire to our home sucks and we're not trying to make money off of the damages, but we're also not willing to pay extra for what we want done if the cost is already covered.
Wingard Construction specializes in home restoration, they've worked extensively with insurance claims and have a good reputation, which is why we decided to go with them. At first meeting they were very personable, constant communication before we signed the contract, but since we signed last Thursday, we've had to be more persistent in the pursuit of communication. That's not my natural style, but after years of spending my adult career working in Account Management, I expect good client services. I've been asking for our countersigned contract, but the request hasn't even been acknowledged. Let's hope this isn't an indication of problems to come. I've also asked for a rough estimate regarding timelines, our project manager, Shane, let us know he'd have a better idea later this week and will send us a timeline. Let's see if that materializes.
On my end, I've been holding off on a few business trips since I've been spending my time trying to get my home back to livable, and it looks like I may have to hold off a little while longer if communication stays stagnant. I'll update as this adventure into having my home restored continues. Hopefully this will help any readers make informed decisions when it comes to hiring a contractor.
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