Outwitting Contractors: The Complete Guide to Surviving Your Home or Apartment Renovation

Remodeling your home or apartment isn't a job - it's a war. How do you defend yourself against the hordes of invaders who come into your home, renovate according to the way they want to remodel; decide there's nothing wrong with a hot-water pipe through the middle of the living room; order bathroom supplies that take three months to arrive and then come when the plumber is on vacation? What you need are simple strategies and techniques necessary to win. Best-selling author Bill Adler Jr. arms you with these strategies in Outwitting Contractors. Learn about: how to stick to the budget; how to determine how much you should pay and when you should pay it; constructing a foolproof contract; the ins-and-outs of permits; creating incentives for the work to be done on schedule; how to keep workers from trashing your home; torture-testing your new construction and appliances; keeping your children and pets safe and happy during renovation; what to do if your contractor goes broke; solving post-remodeling problems. With topics including negotiating contracts; determining who's responsible for what work on the site, and in what order the work should be done; making sure that the raw material you ordered is what gets installed; and what to do when the bathtub won't fit through the bathroom door, Outwitting Contractors offers invaluable practical information no one starting a renovation should be without. (5 1/2 x 8 1/4, 272 pages)Adler, Bill, Jr. is the author of 'Outwitting Contractors: The Complete Guide to Surviving Your Home or Apartment Renovation' with ISBN 9781585742721 and ISBN 1585742724.