Ever since I met with the contractor early last week about our kitchen addition, I’ve been considering being the contractor on that project. I’m still just in the information gathering stage of making this decision, and at this point, the scales are still tipped towards hiring a contractor. But there are so many reasons it makes sense for me to do the job myself.
As I was gathering information to send to the contractor so that he could give me a price for his part of the project, I gave him a list of everything I wanted to do myself. That list included:
- Installing the hardwood flooring and sanding, staining, and sealing the floor;
- Installing all of the trim (baseboards, door trim, window trim);
- Installing and painting/finishing all of the cabinets;
- Painting the walls and ceiling;
- Purchasing and installing the tile backsplashes;
- Purchasing the appliances and arranging for delivery and installation;
- Purchasing the countertops and arranging for delivery and installation.
I mean, that’s a huge part of the kitchen addition. That’s literally the entire everything that makes a kitchen a kitchen. Without all the things that I want to do myself, it’s just an empty room. It’s not a kitchen at all.
If I had my wish, this is how this project would go:
- The contractor would pull a permit to tear down the existing sunroom, as well as build the room for the new kitchen.
- The contractor would hire subs to do the foundation, framing, electrical, plumbing, and drywall.
- After the drywall is up (i.e., the walls are closed up), the valves are installed on all rough-in plumbing, and outlets and lights are installed on rough-in electrical.
- Once all of that is finished, they sign off on their part (along with the city), hand the project over to me, and I finish it — install and finish the flooring, install and finish the cabinets, install and finish trim, have countertops installed, install the backsplashes, have appliances delivered and installed.
- After the new kitchen is completely finished, I begin the tear out of the existing kitchen, bringing in a plumber to cap things off as needed, and turn that room into a dining room.
This is the goal, in case you missed it…
This makes sense to me, because when was the last time you heard of the city inspecting kitchen cabinets? That’s not a thing that happens here. Installing new flooring isn’t something that requires a permit. I’ve had quartz countertops installed three times in this house by a very large local company, and never once has that required a permit. And generally, the countertop installers are the ones who install the sink as well. No permit needed for that. Tile backsplashes don’t require permits. Plumbers are installing faucets every single day, and I’ve never seen or heard of one pulling a permit for installing a faucet. And Lowe’s and Home Depot are delivering and installing appliances all day every day, and those never require a permit.
So once the walls are closed up, valves are attached to the plumbing rough-ins, outlets and lights are installed on the electrical rough-ins, and trim is installed so that there are no gaps between the drywall and floor or drywall and windows/doors (which I guess means that flooring would have to be installed), then none of the rest of that project requires an inspector in my house.
So in my perfect world, that’s how the project would go. But the contractor told me that the city probably wouldn’t go for that, and it would have to be completely finished before the city signs off on the permit. And once a permit is pulled for a project like that, you have a year to finish it before the permit expires.
I could tell that the contractor wasn’t thrilled with the idea of me doing so much of the project myself. I can totally understand that. He doesn’t know me. He’s not familiar with my work. I know he just wants to get in, get the job done, have the city sign off on the finished project, and move on to the next customer. He doesn’t want some homeowner holding up progress.
Evidently, he actually has a situation right now where a homeowner is holding up progress, not because he’s a DIYer, but because of a funding issue. And until the project is finished, this contractor has this record of an incomplete project on his file with the city. So I totally understand how that could be very annoying for a contractor. And I can also completely understand how he could be leery of taking on a project where he’s not in full control, and where he would be having to do a whole lot of waiting around for me to finish my part.
But I’m pretty adamant about doing everything on that list myself. I’m a DIYer at heart, and I can’t even imagine watching someone else install cabinets in my house, or install a tile backsplash in my house, or install door and window trim in my house. These are not things I could stand by and watch. These are not things that will ever happen as long as I have the ability to do them myself.
I still held out hope that they could do their part, have the city sign off on it, and then let me take over without this project still being attached to their name or record with the city. So I called the inspection office to see if I could speak with an inspector and ask some questions. After all, their website does say, “If a contractor/owner needs to speak with an inspector, they are normally in the office between 8 and 9 a.m. and from 4:30 to 5 p.m.” So I called.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get past the woman who answered the phone, and she was quite rude. When I asked to speak with an inspector, she responded as if I was asking a really stupid question. “Ma’am, my inspectors are VERY busy,” she said. Ummm…okay. I told her that I Just needed a few minutes to ask some very specific questions. “If these are questions about building code, all of that information is online,” she said very curtly. I said it wasn’t necessarily about building code, but about a kitchen addition. “Well, they can’t answer your questions without being there to see your project,” she said, as if completely exasperated with me.
I was getting really frustrated. The website says I can ask questions between certain times, but this gatekeeper wasn’t letting me through, and she was treating me like I was a complete imbecile. And I hate to be that person, but my property taxes and sales tax go to pay these people’s salaries. They literally work for the people of this city, so being treated like I was such a bother and an idiot didn’t sit well with me.
I didn’t want to tell her all of the details because I knew she wouldn’t know. She’s not an inspector. So I finally just said, “I have a question about how far along a kitchen needs to be before the inspector will sign off on it.” Again, as if she were talking to a complete moron, she said, “EVERYTHING has to be finished. There can’t be one single handle left off of the kitchen cabinets. Not one single thing left undone. It has to be completely finished.”
That didn’t make any sense. I’ve already listed out all the things that do NOT have to be inspected by the city, and that do NOT require permits. I was getting pretty tired of being talked to like I’m an idiot, so I responded, “So you’re telling me that inspectors actually inspect kitchen cabinets? They have to come here and inspect and sign off on kitchen cabinets? They LITERALLY inspect kitchen cabinets?”
She said, “Well, no. I mean, they don’t inspect kitchen cabinets. No. That’s not part of the inspection.” I was not pleased with this. So DO they inspect kitchen cabinets or DON’T they inspect kitchen cabinets? Because at the same time she’s telling me that I can’t even so much as have a handle missing from a cabinet door, she’s also telling me that it’s not part of their job to inspect kitchen cabinets. How can both of those things be true at the same time? They can’t.
And THIS is why I didn’t want to talk to the person answering the phones. THIS is why I wanted to talk to an inspector, as the website says I can. But I couldn’t get past the gatekeeper to someone who could actually answer my questions.
Anyway, I’m not sure why I went off on that diatribe. 😀 And I have no idea why I would willingly sign up to work directly with this office. I’ve been told horror stories about dealing with these people on big projects like additions. And yet, I am considering it. I think it might be easier for everyone if I just deal with the city and the subs myself. And although it’s not the basis of my decision, I would also save a whole lot of money. The contractor’s markup is 24%. That adds up fast, and it would certainly be nice to save that money.
So tell me your experiences. Have you ever acted as your own contractor on an addition or new home build? How did it go? Would you recommend it? Would you do it again? Or did you look into it and decide to go with a contractor instead? If you did that, what was the thing that made you decide to go that direction?
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.