the Price of General Contractors

I hired a contractor to remodel a garage and turn it into a master bedroom suite. The charge was $65 per hour. The mission was to frame up the bedroom, close an extra door on the garage, build a bathroom and a master closet. Also required would be to build up the floor from the ground level. New walls, sheetrock, ceiling and windows would be needed.

For $5000, I did not get my money's worth. Now, 5 months later, I have the boards up for the walls and in place for the floors. There is no flooring, no walls, and the extra door has not been removed. The wiring is hanging out of every hole in the ceiling and near each entrance. There is a bay window framed but no window. Animals from outside wander in and out of the "garage". The weather is damaging the exposed boards. Openings for the windows were not framed up to be standard size. Each window is being custom made, therefore, adding extra expense to the project versus using standard measurements.

Do not, I mean do not, hire a contractor by the hour, unless you can be there the entire time, for accountablility purposes. Make sure that all the required materials for the entire days work is available and not needed to be retrieved from vendors. Check the reliability of any references received for the individual and be specific about every little detail, even down to number of electrical receptacles.