Five Important Questions to Ask Your General Contractor:

    1. Is the General Contractor Liscensed?

There are no building code inspections in many counties within the State of Tennessee. You are very dependent on the General Contractor that you select to build your new home properly without the supervision of building code officials. You can check the General Contractor's liscense and credentials with the State of Tennessee board of Liscensing Contractors.

    2. Is the General Contractor Insured?

If the General Contractor is not properly insured, you are open to a great deal of risk. There are three types of insurance which are critical:

General Liability Insurance - This protects you during and after your home is constructed. If something goes wrong with your home, you have some protection if your general contractor is liable for the problem. If your general contractor does not have General Liability Insurance, you will probably get stuck holding the bag if something goes wrong.

Workman's Compensation Insurance - This protects you if someone is hurt on the job. If someone is hurt while working on your property and your General Contractor does not have Workman's Compensation Insurance, you will be liable.

Builder's Risk Insurance - This protects your investment in you new home during construction. If the home is damaged during construction, Builder's Risk Insurance should cover most of that loss.

 This is really not as scary as it sounds. If you are borrowing money to build your new home, your lending institution will probably require proof of insurance. If you are not sure - Ask.

    3. Is the General Contractor a Member of the Local and/or National Association of Home
    Builders?

Any reputable professional will probably belong to the professional groups associated with that profession. If he is not, you should ask why.

    4. Can the General Contractor Supply References?

Lenders that the General Contractor has worked with in the past and his business banker are excellent references. They will know if there have been problems with previous contracts. The best references are past clients that have had homes built by the General Contractor. If the General Contractor is not willing to supply a list of people he has done business with in the last few years, you should be concerned. Do not hesitate to call the references and ask specific questions.

     Did the contractor do what he said he would do?

     Was the client happy with the home building process?

     Did the contractor handle any warranty issues appropiately?

    5. Are you comfortable with the individual (the General Contractor)?

Building a new home is a little bit like getting married. There will be problems. There are a thousand and one things that go into the construction of a new home and things go wrong all of the time. If it were easy to build a home, everyone would do it themselves and save the money. The fact is, sub contractors don't always show up when they are suppossed to. The materials that are delivered to the jobsite are sometimes wrong or damaged. And yes, even a good contractor makes mistakes. The question is: How does the contractor handle these mistakes, whether they are his fault or somone else's?

Most custom homes are built on a cost plus basis. This means that you pay whatever the actual cost is plus the contractors fee for supervising and coordinating the construction. If your contractor is unwilling or unable to give you a firm price on the construction of your new home, you have to trust him a lot. You must be comfortable with your contractor as an individual.