How to hire workers to carry out repairs

Recommendation points

• Where to get workers
• What should be in the contract
• What else to keep in mind

A new building with “bare walls” and an old apartment in “Khrushchev” are equally eager to renovate. And you, as luck would have it, do not know how to handle a brush and a hammer at all. But the times when such a situation was considered hopeless have passed safely. What to keep in mind when starting a renovation?

Where to get workers

Nowadays, any construction market is teeming with volunteer builders who announce their existence with advertisements right on the pavilions. You can also contact a repair company. They make themselves known not on fences, but in newspapers and magazines. It makes sense not to rely entirely on advertising messages, but to hire workers who have already done repairs to friends. It will not be so scary to give 30% of the mandatory advance. And you can see what these craftsmen have already done, and draw a conclusion about their abilities and decency.

1. By recommendation
The easiest and at first glance the most reliable way. Because your good friends, relatives or friendly neighbors seem to vouch for the quality of the craftsmen’s work. In addition, there is a great opportunity to come to visit them – to look, knock and feel the real results of the work of the recommended team. There is only one drawback (by the way, it applies equally to private traders and employees of construction firms) – and there is a hole in the old woman.

2. By advertisements
I advise you not to collect a whole bunch of construction publications – newspapers like “Repair in Moscow” or magazines “Stroyka”, “Construction Season”, etc. The fact is that advertisers – both firms and private traders – provide information about themselves to several publications at once. Therefore, making a major call, you can get to the same company or to the same master at least 5 – 6 times. This can eventually tire both sides. Therefore, it is enough to take one magazine and one or two newspapers. I assure you, this is quite enough to find a suitable option or to become brutal enough to order repairs by the phone number that turns out to be the last.

What should be in the contract

By the way, speaking about decency – it is worth concluding a contract even with proven workers. Under such a contract, builders usually give a one-year warranty. And it will be easier to explain: there will be no statements like: “You didn’t say that.”.

When making an estimate for the first time at rates reported by a firm or team, it is difficult to correctly estimate the costs. Additional work and, as a result, costs arise. In order for such surprises to arise as rarely as possible, the contract must immediately stipulate traditionally controversial issues..

Firstly, who brings and pays for the transportation of materials, as well as at whose expense they are unloaded.

Secondly, who takes out the trash. This is a particularly delicate question, because in Moscow you cannot throw bulky construction waste into ordinary garbage cans. To do this, you need to order special containers, each for 30 – 40 dollars (usually 2-3 pieces are required), and then take them out yourself.

Thirdly, who cleans the apartment after renovation.

Fourth, terms of work. If these points are not immediately included in the estimate, you can be sure –
builders will demand an additional jackpot for them. Well, the terms will be
stretched out even by the most respectable workers.

In the contract, which is concluded at the company, such things are called “overheads” and “eat up” 20 – 30% of the total amount. It is worth clarifying which works are included here, and for which you will have to pay extra.
Specify all the details as detailed as possible. It is worth not only indicating the “leveling of the ceiling”, but more specifically expressing your needs: do you need the ceiling to be leveled “to zero” or was only evenly plastered. But don’t get too absurd. It is not at all necessary to register every rail: installing a door, for example, without fail includes nailing platbands.

What else to keep in mind

It is worth considering that a small team (one of two) will take less for work, but it will also take longer. See what will cost you less, because it is better to take a vacation during the renovation.

Busy “workaholics” are better off hiring a company. A superintendent is allocated there who will watch the builders and go shopping..
If you buy materials on the market, it is better to do this in the same place – they are more willing to bargain with regular customers.

And the last – the order of work is based on the principle: first the dirtiest, then – from top to bottom. When planning them, you need to take into account that you can make noise only on weekdays from 11.00 to 19.00 – according to the order of the mayor of Moscow. Make sure that there are “quiet” works on the weekend: plastering or wallpapering and the workers are not idle.
On average, repairing a one-room apartment without installing plumbing, but with partial laying of tiles (for example, only in the kitchen) will cost $ 40 per sq. m. Materials for not the most “cool”, but not the most primitive repair of a one-room apartment without plumbing, but with ceramic tiles will result in 3000 – 3500 dollars.