What To Look for When Hiring General Contractor in New Orleans

Are you looking for general contractors in New Orleans to complete your home remodel, extension or build you a new one? If so, this could be one of the more important decisions you ever make. The skill of your contractor will directly influence how well you love your home for years to come. With that in mind, here are things to consider:

#1. Experience matters

Any contractor one hires needs to be able to show pictures of past jobs for examples. Most, including ourselves, will have a book of photos for easy access that we show to any prospective client. This is critical because it is important to see the caliber of work and to ensure that the style is similar to what the client envisions. While contractors have creative license and can certainly do things to appease clients, there are certain things that tend to be consistent multiple projects.

It is important to make sure that those things are in line with your vision.  If none of a contractor's designs are of interest, make it clear what you were looking for and ask if any samples are available that are more in line with what has been discussed. It may be that the sample book just contains things that the majority of people like but there are other examples available.

#2. Being comfortable is important

A general contractor in New Orleans is likely to be on the job for months, even a year if building a new home. Being able to openly and comfortably have discussions about ideas, taste, and materials is critically important. During initial conversations, it should be clear if this comfort level exists between homeowner and contractor. If it does not, it is best to look for someone else. Again, without the ability to speak freely, the results are unlikely to be exactly as desired.

#3. Check reviews

Find out what others have to say and what their experiences have been by reading client testimonial provided by the contractor along with reviews found online. Keep in mind that some people will be unhappy no matter what but, in general, reviews tend to provide insight into what can be expected.

#4. Ask to see their license

A general contractor in New Orleans should be able to produce a copy of their business and contractor's license. This is a critical document required by any professional contractor. In fact, someone cannot simply decide to be a contractor one day. There is a process that must be gone through with the state and that includes becoming fully licensed and insured.

=Anyone unable to produce these documents is not a legitimate contractor, even if they are doing work around people's homes. The risk in not hiring a licensed contractor is that if something goes wrong there is less legal recourse and one mus ask the question, why does this contractor not have a license?

Schedule an appointment

As a licensed general contractor in New Orleans, we would be happy to help with any home remodeling or construction project you have in mind. To learn more about our services or see what we have done in the past, give us a call.

Tips from a Kitchen Contractor in New Orleans on Preservation

If you want to remodel while preserving the architecture of your home, call to speak with our kitchen contractor in New Orleans. Preserving existing materials and architecture inside of a home is actually far more challenging than conducting demolition, tearing everything out and installing new. It is faster to demo and can often save money which is why most contractors will offer that initially instead of discussing preservation techniques.

However, it is certainly possible to preserve a lot of the materials and character of an older home. It simply requires the homeowner's patience with the process and investing in a contractor with the experience to preserve historic materials.

Preservation tips from a kitchen contractor in New Orleans.

First, there must be a plan between homeowner and contractor. In most cases, not everything will be worth preserving or capable of preservation. For example, if something is too fragile to move or rotting, we may not be able to safely move it without causing damage. This makes it important to go over all the existing materials in the home and make note of what to preserve.

It is also necessary to have contingency plans in place. Once the process begins, things will be discovered and it may require some adjustment. For example, lighting fixtures may be salvaged but require new components or wiring. Having a plan for how a situation like this will be addressed makes the process able to continue without causing massive delays.

Quality takes time

Slow and steady is the name of the game when it comes to preserving materials. It is critical to hire a contractor who can carefully remove the existing cabinetry from the walls or restore it in place. This requires extensive patience but is entirely worth it to preserve the character of an older home. Creativity is also necessary when remodeling a historic kitchen.

Finding ways to incorporate modern appliances, update plumbing and wiring while still preserving the cabinetry, flooring, look and feel of the kitchen, requires not just skill but extensive creativity. As a contractor, we have the creativity necessary to identify solutions and work toward a successful outcome.

Many of the homes we work on are historic. We treasure them and the opportunity to bring new life to spaces without taking away from the historic charm that makes them beautiful.

We can visit your home and create plans as a kitchen contractor in New Orleans.

Getting started is as easy as calling and scheduling an appointment with our office. We have experience in these types of restoration and remodeling projects and can add valuable insight to the overall process. We will need to visit the property and discuss what the goals are for the project prior to making specific recommendations.

We are thoughtful and methodical during this process, understanding that there is only one opportunity to remodel a historic home correctly. After all, once the original materials are gone, nothing can replace them as perfectly as our team.