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Contrator Materials Charged - Get Contractor Pricing and The Receipts

Mon 14 Jan 2008 - 09:55

Contrator Materials Charged - Get Contractor Pricing and The Receipts
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Dan_Powell]Dan Powell

As part of your financial arrangements with your chosen contractor, please make sure you remember to agree on the cost of the materials. Please also make sure that you agree up front on the level of detail that you will receive from the contractor when they present you with their periodic invoice.

In an earlier post, we talked about how contractors can obtain preferred pricing on materials from many (not all) building materials' suppliers.

Well, who pockets the difference between what you and I would pay, that is 'retail' price, and what the contractor would pay, that is the lower 'contractor' price?

If you do not spell this out right at the beginning then who do you think the contractor will assume to pocket the difference between these two prices? Right.

Many, to most, contractors will advise you to have them purchase all of the materials. And why not? What are you going to do every time that more drywall sheets, 2 X 4's, paint, caulking, duct work, and so on is needed.....leave the office and go with the contractor to the store? Of course not. Your boss would not like that too much, will she?

So, agree ahead of time that you will pay only for the contractor pricing. Fine. But, what if the contractor presents you with what I call a 'summary' type of invoice which shows only one number for labour and materials combined, including applicable taxes? What are you paying for?

What if the contractor shows you one number for labour, another number for materials and a third number for sales taxes? Are you any better off?

My suggestion is to agree before the project starts not only that you will receive the benefit of contractor pricing, but that you will receive all of the invoices for money spent on all materials prior to payment by you. In this way, you have a chance to......careful, here is an accounting term........reconcile or compare the total of the materials amount on the invoice to the total of the receipts for the materials purchases.

We were lucky. We knew our primary contractor. Heck, his wife was the maid of honour at our wedding.....and that was 22 years ago this April. But, how many of you have this type of relationship with your primary contractor?

For more of our personal renovation experiences, we welcome you to visit our blog, Daily Home Renovation Tips, at the link below: http://dailyhomerenotips.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dan_Powell http://EzineArticles.com/?Contrator-Materials-Charged---Get-Contractor-Pricing-and-The-Receipts&id=925252


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