REMODELING's Consumer Panel

If it wasn't one before, remodeling is definitely now a service industry. A recent NARI survey shows that a remodeler's trustworthiness and service ranked most important in a homeowner's decision to hire. Quality ranked as only the sixth most important factor.

Yet customer service remains for many companies an effort in which theory and practice diverge. Everyone understands the need to satisfy clients, but understanding doesn't get results.

So what do consumers want? Why are customer relationships so hard to manage? We sat down with 10 homeowners who recently completed or embarked on remodeling projects to discuss how they view remodelers and the remodeling experience.

Our panel members' projects ranged in size and scope from minor interior updates to whole-house guts. Panel members hired companies from an equally broad spectrum, including one-man handyman shops, father-son teams, and multimillion dollar design/build firms.

Cynthia: We remodeled our kitchen, and we thought our first contractor had done a good job, but there were all kinds of problems. We started figuring things out because all the plumbing was wrong. From there it was just like peeling an onion. We ended up taking down all the cabinets, and that's when we saw that everything had been done completely in violation of code. He had taken shortcuts everywhere. We found live wires patched with coins. We eventually went to arbitration and we brought in another contractor who brought everything up to code and fixed the damage. You just don't want to have to ever go through that. It's just been incredibly emotionally draining.

Susan: I bought a big old house, which was built around 1875, and I've gutted it myself. But the roof was more than I could handle. I had trouble finding a contractor, and finally hired one that my consultant's partner had recommended. I came home from work one day and my porch had been ripped off. There was no Dumpster, all the asbestos shingles, the roof, all the tiles, the glass, it was all in my front yard. There was no drop-cloth, nothing like that. And then they let it sit there for almost a week and a half. Finally they brought in a Dumpster and a guy to clean it up.

Shelley: Things were moving along and going well for the bulk of our project. We had even developed a friendly relationship with our contractor. About halfway through, he showed us a cost report, and we were under budget, so we added a few extra details. And then right near the end, he came back with another runsheet, and it was double the contract price of the job. It turned out he hadn't really been paying attention to the job and there were extra costs he didn't tell us about. Up until the very end of our project, the workmanship was fantastic, but then he stopped returning my calls. There were only a few things left to be done, but I couldn't get him to come back. It just sort of fell apart at the end.

Betsy: I found it really hard to get people who were forthcoming. I'd really rather know that something is going wrong than overhear it from a workman who's telling his wife on the phone.

Craig: Our experience was a little different. If I had to use one word to describe my contractor it would be “truth-teller.” From day one, everything he said was true. He didn't sugarcoat it.

I asked a home builder friend what to look for in a contractor. He said one thing: Find someone you can trust. If you trust him, everything will work out; if you don't, it won't.

Brenda: We also developed a lot of trust in the company owner. When we were trying to figure out which contractor to go with, one company sent out a salesperson; with the other it was the owner of the company. When we had a problem with the screened-in porch, and we were dissatisfied with it, I knew I could go back to him.

Susan: I'm having a hard time with trust at this point.

Shelley: It's tough because there aren't many ways you can vet a contractor like there are in other industries.

Craig: That's true. Usually when you spend this type of money, when you make a big-ticket purchase like this, you get more information and more educational literature than you can handle. There are brochures, Web sites, consumer guides. But there's none of that in this industry.

Susan: It's valid to say if you're going to come out and give me a bid, bring a portfolio of your work, show me some samples.

Wendy: My biggest problem is that [contractors] don't seem to use e-mail at all. It's all these phone calls that are then not returned. I didn't understand that at all.

Craig: When I'm at work, if someone misses a phone call, you get called right back or as soon as possible. And that's what I expect from other businesses, but that wasn't always our experience [in dealing with remodelers.] It's fascinating that it's so different from every other facet of my life.

Cynthia: I was surprised by the appearance of the subcontractors. The contractor had a neat, clean appearance but his subcontractors didn't.

Brenda: I was told in advance about change orders. They clearly stated when they were giving us the contract that things will come up we have no control over. They told us to expect complications.

Craig: Mid-project changes were something we weren't really prepared for in advance. We thought, the plans are the plans. We tried to keep an open mind because the builder came in with a whole bunch of suggestions the architect didn't have. But we didn't always understand how expensive a change was, or how much time it added to the project.

Betsy: I couldn't believe that people didn't keep any records of conversations and what they tell customers about the costs associated with changes. I was shocked at the lack of documenting what falls out of their mouths. I had carefully documented all of our change order discussions in a huge binder, and I couldn't believe that they didn't have any of it.

Kathleen: When it came to changes or complications, I always trusted the contractor because he was the one who was up to his elbows doing the work. It was just a matter of who is practical and who is “blue sky.”

Craig: When we were discussing [moving out during the remodel], people said you're really smart to do it. But this was an area where I found that even my contractor, who's a very good communicator, had really nothing to say about it. At one point he said, “I would have charged you $50,000 more if you had stayed in, because we would have had to restage everything.” He said, “We spend one and a half to two hours of manpower every day to set up and clean up if you're in the house; we use zero if you're not.” But that only came out months later.

Cynthia: We were happy with the finished product but we received no guidance or education about the process.

Shelley: We received no information on the process from the contractor either. He didn't spend a lot of time on site, and there was a real lack of communication between him and the supervisor.

Craig: Our contractors were very good at telling us what trades they like to manage and what trades they don't. They wouldn't do landscaping or carpeting, and they didn't want to install the appliances. They were focused, which I appreciate, as opposed to someone who says, “I'll do everything” and then they don't deliver.

Brenda: My contractor refused to install a tile backsplash in my kitchen. I couldn't understand how they could build this whole gorgeous kitchen but not do a tile backsplash. They ended up recommending a place for me to look at tiles, then I hired the installer, and they supervised him. I liked that they supervised the people I brought in.

Alejandra: We used a handyman, who was great, but the problem was we had to buy everything ourselves. We decided to go to the Home Depot Expo Center. It took us around 15 trips, and when we finally decided what we wanted, they told us it would take a month to deliver everything. Then they called and said the tiles would be late, but the contractor had already started. We ended up having to wait for every part to arrive on a different day.

Craig: I didn't really understand why my contractor had so much trouble with the custom products we wanted to order. They really preferred that we picked stock products. We wanted to order something from Pottery Barn, and they were really reluctant to do it.

Brenda: I used an interior decorator to help with product selections, but my contractor was uncomfortable with the process. He was always worried about delivery.

Kathleen: We designed our kitchen and ordered all the products in advance, and by the time the contractor I had hired could do the job, everything was sitting in the garage. He insisted on opening every single box, parcel, and package that the designer had checked. We had the wrong toilet, the wrong counter-top, and the sink had a big crack in it, so thank goodness he did that before we got started.

Betsy: The first day it was exhilarating. There was this huge bookcase that had been there since the house was built, and the first day, they tore it out. I was so excited, it's gone, the bookcase is gone. But I have a huge bay window, and the day they came and just threw my bay window onto the lawn, I was shocked.

Craig: The best part of our project was that we had a very orderly process. I emotionally knew what I could handle, and I couldn't deal with a lot of headaches and uncertainty. It's really a major life process. And we had a much better than average experience, but I still underestimated the scope and impact of that.

Brenda: You want to be involved but some space is helpful. You don't want to push them, saying, “Are you supposed to be doing this?” You're just trying to educate yourself, but it's coming off to them like, “Are you really doing the job right?”

Kathleen: I wonder how many of these problems are brought on by the homeowner and if it would be better if the project were viewed as a collaboration rather than, I'm the one who's paying the bills, and you're going to do what I say. I don't think the appropriate level of respect is always given.

Craig: It's true that, as a homeowner, you get out of it what you put into it. If you have a negative attitude, you'll get a negative result. If you don't put time in and try to manage the process to the best of your ability, it won't work out. It's a mutual obligation. As a homeowner, if you don't invest yourself in learning, you're going to be disappointed.