Should I Buy My Own Building Materials or Should I Let My Contractor?
I recently had the privilege of restoring an old weekend waterfront bungalow from the 40s. We removed the old drop ceiling, replaced lighting, installed a new bamboo floor and redid the bathroom. It turned out looking great, but there were a few hitches along the way that not only slowed our timeframe for completion down considerably, it also ended up costing the homeowner more money than the original bid. And it all came down to one reason: the homeowners opted to buy their own materials for the project. Is it in your best interests to buy your own building materials? I say it’s a job best left up to the pros.
Good Deals vs. Good Products
As a builder with plenty of connections in the building industry, I know building materials and their suppliers well. I can spot an inferior building material a mile away and when I have to use them in unison with my own building supplies, chaos can quickly ensue. For instance, we installed a series of new plumbing valves in the shower that were from our suppliers and the homeowner picked out a set of fixtures from Lowe’s. What ended up happening was the valves were made from metal and the fixtures were made from plastic. The bath faucets threaded connectors ended up stripping out and we had to buy a new faucet from our supplier anyway to fix the trouble. Just because the materials are on sale, doesn’t mean that they are going to be quality products.
Old vs. New
Homeowners want to get the most bang for their buck. And there is certainly no reason why they shouldn’t. In fact, I try my best to give homeowners a great deal on all of their projects. But more often than not, homeowners want to save a few bucks by going half in on replacing materials. In the case of this remodeling project, there was a wide variety of old materials mixed with new. One of the biggest problems was with the old plumbing fixtures. The corrosion on the old valves was just too much for them to take. When we installed new tile on the old bathroom floor, we had to remove the old toilet and sink. But instead of installing new shut off valves for the sink, the homeowner wanted to just install a new sink. Just by turning off the old shut off valves so we could replace the old with the new, they began to leak a few days after we installed the new sink. So we had to come back, remove the new sink and install new valves to stop the leak. If you’re going to replace old lighting, plumbing or other multiple parted materials, it’s a good idea to go all out and replace all of the equipment the first time.
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