Host: Joining us in the studio this morning is Mike of Edge Construction. Mike, how are you doing this morning? Mike: Great, Sean. Host: This week we’re talking about things to discuss with your contractor before the work starts, which is probably the best time to be discussing those things. Before we get there, though, I know you spend time out west in the summer riding motorcycles. When you see some of those really elaborate campers and RVs, do you ever think it would be fun to live that life for a little while? Mike: I love driving, but usually in a hot rod or on a motorcycle, not in a camper. I go to Sturgis every year with some friends, and you see some incredible setups out there. Calling them campers doesn’t really do them justice. There’s a wide range, of course, from normal stuff to really over-the-top custom builds. This year we were parked near some people who owned Harley dealerships in Tennessee, and apparently that business pays pretty well because they had some amazing rigs. I got to look inside a few of them, and I have to say, some of the carpentry work was really custom and very cool. I appreciated it. Host: It’s funny because there are some parallels there. Most people want pretty normal things in a remodel, but once in a while somebody wants something really out there. Mike: Exactly. I saw an old city bus, probably mid-1980s, that someone had converted into a camper. It looked fun, and I’ve actually thought it would be a great hobby project to bring something like that into our shop and custom-build the inside. I’ve looked into it, and it’s a whole different world from residential construction. Everything has to be lightweight and low impact. You’re not putting in heavy hardwood floors and thick cabinets. Still, it would be a fun project. Host: And it ties into what we’re talking about today. Carpenters need to know their specialty and their wheelhouse. Remodeling the inside of an RV is not what Edge Construction does, but making a house on the isthmus function better definitely is. Is it fair for homeowners to ask, right up front, what a contractor really specializes in? Mike: It absolutely is. Especially when you’re early in this business, or you’re a one-person team, specialization matters. When work gets tighter, you start seeing trucks that say they can do everything—decks, additions, full custom homes, whatever. I’m not saying those people haven’t done some of that work, but I think homeowners are better off with specialists. We’ve expanded our own capabilities over the years by bringing in the right people. For example, we have Dale, a master electrician with unbelievable experience. That allows us to do more electrical work in-house. On the design side, Heather took us to another level. I always say those great pictures online exist because we found Heather. She runs our design and sales side, and I trust her completely there. Then on the framing side, Ron leads our crew, and he’s excellent. When we need horsepower on a big addition, Ron and his crew are excited to jump in. As a homeowner, you should absolutely ask who is good at what and who is actually doing the work. Host: And that’s where examples matter too, right? If I’m thinking about a kitchen remodel, it seems fair to ask to see kitchens you’ve done before. Mike: Definitely. Early in my career, I had installed hundreds of kitchens, but I wasn’t designing them or supplying the products. I made whatever someone put in front of me look as good as I could. That’s different from being responsible for the whole result. Now we have better cabinet lines, better products, and we have to stand behind them. We work with Great Northern Cabinetry, and I love that company. They make a terrific cabinet at a great price point. People assume custom options always mean huge extra cost, but not necessarily. Part of it is just having enough experience and credibility to work with the right suppliers. Host: Is that part of the conversation too—asking what the contractor’s baseline standards are? In other words, what products they will or won’t use? Mike: Yes, and sometimes homeowners do talk us into using something more budget-driven, and it almost never leads to the best result. I’ll pick on vinyl plank flooring a little. We still use it, but the products we recommend have changed a lot over the past five years because of performance issues we’ve seen. Often a homeowner wants us to match something that was already installed elsewhere in the house, and usually it’s a lower-end big box product. That creates heartburn for us, because if we install it, we’re expected to stand behind it. One of our main suppliers dropped half their vinyl plank lines because they were getting callbacks on so many jobs. We still use vinyl plank, but we’re very particular about which product we use. That comes from experience. Years ago, when I was a one-man show, I might have just sent someone off to a flooring store and said, “Pick what you like.” That’s a lot different when your reputation is tied to fifty jobs a year instead of four. Host: And some of that really is a case of getting what you pay for. A lot of those bargain products look great for a weekend project, but maybe not for the long haul. Mike: Exactly. I understand why people are tempted. Everything at the big box store looks like it’s two dollars a square foot, and then they wonder why a better product installed professionally costs more. But if we’re putting it in, we want you to be happy with it for a long time. There are a lot of resources that go into making even a cheap product. If it fails in a few years, that’s just wasteful. To me, the greenest product is the one that stays in the game the longest. We’ve talked about old three-quarter-inch hardwood floors that are over a hundred years old and still have life left in them. That’s an incredible investment. For something like a lower-level remodel, though, vinyl plank flooring can make a lot of sense. We even glue down floating floors now because we want a more reliable result. Floating floors can get noisy, expand and contract, or have joints come apart. Gluing them down costs a little more, but it helps the floor perform better over time. Host: Another thing to talk about before work starts is what the daily schedule is going to look like. When will people be there? How early will things get going? That matters to homeowners, especially now that so many people work from home. Mike: It really does. Before, if someone had to leave the house for work at 7:30 or 8:00, they were already up and moving, so our crew showing up at 7:00 didn’t feel like a big deal. Now, if someone just has to walk from the bedroom to the home office, that same 7:00 start can feel very different. Sometimes with our in-house people we can hold off until 8:00, but after that we’re really itching to get going. We want to get the work done, and we also want our people home to their families at a reasonable time. The trades we subcontract, mainly plumbing and heating, I’m usually just grateful they show up when we need them. If they want to get going at 7:00, that may be something a homeowner has to tolerate for a day or two so the project can keep moving. Host: And is it fair for homeowners to ask who those subcontractors are and how much of the project is being subcontracted out? Mike: Absolutely. I think that’s a very fair question. You want to know how much of the work is subcontracted and what the contractor’s relationship is with those trades. How long have they worked together? How do they handle schedule and quality control? Are those people insured properly? Do they carry workers’ comp? All of that matters. We’ve worked with some of our trades for a long time. Once in a while a homeowner says they had a bad experience with one of them, and then we talk through it. Was it really poor work, or was it a very stressful emergency situation where expectations maybe got out of sync? We try to be fair to everyone involved. But yes, it is smart to ask who those trade partners are and how the relationship works. Host: Another thing people don’t always think about is cleanup, dust control, and waste removal. That seems like a small thing until the house becomes a job site. Mike: It’s a huge thing. Honestly, probably fifteen percent of our budget goes toward cleanup in one form or another. Our people are expected to clean during the day and at the end of the day. Sometimes a subcontractor is not quite as tidy, and homeowners get used to our people being very clean. If we can’t get there right away after another trade finishes, we may get a call. That’s understandable. What helps is when the homeowner gives us a heads-up instead of just stewing on it. We can’t be everywhere at once, so communication helps. During the heavy demo and framing phase, we’ll usually have a dumpster there. Once that part is over, we like to get rid of it quickly. I don’t love the look of a big dumpster sitting in front of someone’s house for three months. After that, we haul things back in cans and trailers as we go. Host: And in some neighborhoods, especially on the isthmus, even having a dumpster can be difficult. Mike: Very difficult. Parking is already tough, and then you add permit rules and tight lots. We just finished a big job on the isthmus where we tried for months to get a street permit for a dumpster and couldn’t make it happen. So we ended up hauling things with our trailer and doing everything the hard way. That’s why it is important to talk through outside logistics with your contractor too—where materials will be staged, how trash will be handled, whether there’s a driveway or garage we can use, and how neighbors might be affected. Host: And that includes talking to neighbors, right? Mike: Definitely. We always hope homeowners will give the neighbors a heads-up. We don’t want to hurt those relationships. Parking, deliveries, staging, noise—it all affects the people around the project too. Host: Do homeowners also ask about recycling or reuse? For example, if old cabinets still have life left in them, is there a way to keep them out of the landfill? Mike: Yes, especially around Madison. Cabinets are a big one. A lot of times we take out cabinets that aren’t attractive by today’s standards but still have some life left in them. Sometimes they go to the Restore. Sometimes Restore is overloaded and can’t take them. Sometimes we know someone who needs cabinets and we can connect the dots directly. We’ve had jobs where cabinets, a refrigerator, a dishwasher, and a microwave all found second homes. I’m very much in favor of that. It’s less wasteful, and it respects all the resources that went into making those products in the first place. Sometimes homeowners even reuse old cabinets in a garage or workshop. Host: Another important conversation is access and security. Which door are people using? How are they getting in? What parts of the house are off limits? Mike: That’s a big one. Ideally, we create the most efficient route to the work area while also separating the living space from the construction space as much as possible. We want a clear path, floor protection, and a system so everyone bringing materials or tools knows exactly where to go. We email, text, and call our suppliers and trades with those instructions. Does it happen perfectly every time? No. But that’s the goal. We also do not want workers wandering into other parts of the house. I’ve had people call me and say they weren’t our clients, but they heard the show and wanted to ask if it was normal for someone finishing a basement to be using the upstairs bathroom. My answer is no, that should not be normal. We talk about that with our people. We don’t want them using the homeowner’s bathroom. I’d rather have them drive to the gas station. For access, we usually use a lockbox with a code, or sometimes homeowners change the garage code temporarily. Smart locks are great for this too because you can create temporary access and control it easily. Host: Before we wrap up, another one that feels really important is knowing who your point person is once construction begins. Mike: That can be one of the biggest sources of frustration if it’s not handled well. During the design phase, homeowners get used to talking with the designer all the time. Once construction starts, though, they really need to transition to the field person running the job. If they keep reaching back to the designer for construction questions, it slows everything down. The designer has to get hold of the field person, then circle back, and now you’ve created this round-robin of communication. We try to make the handoff very clear. We want homeowners to meet that field person, exchange numbers, and understand that this is now the main point of contact. Even if the information is written down, I still think there needs to be a personal connection there because there are going to be lots of questions during the job. Host: It all comes back to asking the right questions early, understanding how the project is going to run, and making sure everybody is on the same page before demo starts. Mike: Exactly. The more of those conversations you have up front, the smoother the job usually goes.