How to Choose an Edmonton Renovation Expert
Selecting a contractor here in Edmonton, is one of the most important aspects of your renovation project. Simply put, you want a professional renovator who will be able to provide you and your family with the quality and service that you expect and deserve. Hiring the right contractor can seem like a difficult chore. It is not an easy task choosing someone who has the expertise to do the project well, on time and within a specified budget.
There are some initial indicators you can look for when you meet a prospective contractor for the first time. Observe how that person presents himself or herself to you. Are they respectful of you and your family when they enter your home? It is also a good idea to ask a lot of questions the first time you meet. This will give you some insight about the knowledge that the renovator possesses. Does the contractor truly listen to your needs or do they ramble on endlessly about something else?
Here is a list of questions you might want to ask at the first meeting, to help you decide if this is the right Edmonton Renovation Expert for you.
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How long has the company been in business? How long have they been operating in the Edmonton area?
Nord Alta is celebrating it’s 26th Anniversary in the Greater Edmonton area as a family owned and operated business.
While it is true that anyone can acquire knowledge much more easily these days through the media, Internet and home improvement centers, the thing that no one can teach is experience. At Nord Alta we have seen many examples of projects that have failed prematurely. In some cases the failed projects were repaired only to be unsuccessful again simply because the contractor did not investigate in to why the project failed the first time. In some cases a project will be full of major design flaws before it is even started and only someone with experience and expertise in these areas will be able to identify those flaws and correct them before the project starts.
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What is their area of expertise?
Nord Alta has a wide range of expertise in the renovation industry ranging from additions, basement development and kitchen and bathroom remodeling to any type of interior or exterior renovation whether it is for residential or commercial lease hold improvements.
This is best expressed in the quote ”Best left to the experts.” We embrace this philosophy wholeheartedly. We use licensed sub trades for those areas of work that require a licensed trade. For example, no one would want a plumber doing electrical work on his or her home or vice versa. Both of these are very specialized areas of construction and require a professional. Construction today has evolved to the point that there are no longer only a few sub trades to complete the task of building a home. The reason for this is quite simple, the more work one does on a regular basis in one specialty, the more they become very efficient and effective in providing quality work at a reasonable cost. We at Nord Alta work as a team, which includes the qualified sub trades so that we can provide the client with the best results for the least cost. If you have ever heard someone say, “If I wanted it to look like that I would have done it myself”, chances are that they hired the wrong contractor.
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Are they registered and covered by Workmen’s Compensation?
Yes, we are covered under the Workmen’s Compensation Act.
Most homeowner’s don’t realize that if a contractor, whether it is a general contractor, subcontractor or an employee, is hurt on their jobsite, the homeowner could be held responsible. Having WCB not only protects employees by offering them coverage should they be injured, but it also insures that the homeowner does not become the general contractor by index and therefore found liable.
Recently, Alberta Occupational Health and Safety has fined companies and directors or managers for unsafe worksites as well as employees with unsafe work practices when someone has been seriously injured or has died due to work related injuries. In some cases these people and their companies have been fined tens of thousands of dollars. To check on the status of a potential contractor visit the Workplace Health & Safety website or call your local WCB office.
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Do they have contractor’s liability and property damage insurance?
Yes Nord Alta has liability insurance with one million dollars of coverage for each occurrence.
House insurance coverage does not cover every possibility, but even if it did, the homeowner is left to pick up the tab for the deductible and the incremental increase in their premium when they renew. For example, the contractor is pouring concrete for a driveway located between the client’s house and the neighbor’s house. While the concrete finisher is brooming the final finish, he gets concrete on the neighbor’s painted siding. If the concrete finisher does not wash the splashed concrete off the neighbor’s house before it has set, it can’t be removed without removing the paint as well. In this example the homeowner’s insurance company would probably not pay. If the contactor doesn’t have insurance and has been paid and neither the homeowner nor the neighbor noticed until after the check is cashed, it is likely the homeowner will personally foot the bill.
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Do they have a municipal business license?
Yes, Nord Alta has a municipal license for the City of Edmonton.
With this license we have been given permission by the municipality, to apply for building and development permits on behalf of the homeowner. The application for building and development permits demonstrates the contractor’s willingness to follow procedure as well as have his work scrutinized by others. This increases the likelihood that the work will be done correctly.
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Do they have a GST registration number?
Yes, Nord Alta has a GST registration number for which we pay the goods and services tax on the homeowners behalf.
Why would you pay something if you didn’t have to? To begin with, there is no benefit to a contractor to not be registered with a GST number and make remittances on your behalf. Whatever goods a contractor purchases, they must pay GST on, whether they are registered or not. This means that a contractor not registered cannot claim the amount of tax that they have paid on the homeowner’s behalf. Simple arithmetic says that they have lost out on the tax amount towards their bottom line. The only way that they could recover this money is if they also did not pay income tax on these earnings. The point is not whether the contractor paid their taxes but rather that the contractor is shirking their duty to pay the tax that the homeowner has given them to pay their share. If they are squelching on paying the homeowner’s taxes, what can be said about the commitment that they make.
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Do they have a provincial license as a Prepaid Contractor?
Nord Alta has the designation of being a prepaid contractor within the province of Alberta.
This license is through Consumer and Corporate Affairs by legislation of the Alberta Government. The Act allows prepaid contractors to take deposits for various construction projects. The criteria for meeting the requirements to be licensed, is that one has to be bondable as well. The act was also first enacted to give consumers a cooling off period to ensure that no one signed a contract under duress while in their home.
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Are they bonded to take a deposit?
Yes, Nord Alta is bonded to receive homeowner deposits as a prepaid contractor.
As a bonded prepaid contractor, if we were to take a homeowner’s deposit and not fulfill our obligations, the bonding company would pay out an amount up to $ 25,000 dollars and they would go after us for the bond that they had to pay out. There have been countless cases of contractors that have taken deposits and moved on without doing any work, never to be heard from again. We provide this peace of mind to our clients so they know their deposit is safe?
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Do they use a written contract?
Yes everything is completed in writing so there are no surprises.
The benefit of having a contract is that all of the details of the project are spelled out, whether it is the scope of the work to be performed, the amount of time in which the contract is to be fulfilled or the terms of payment. All these aspects should be included. The contract also outlines the duties and responsibilities of each respective party. It used to be that everyone relied on a handshake to seal the contract. Today we still have a handshake to seal the deal, but because there are so many details it’s important to get it in writing. Not all contracts will be the same but they should all include the scope of work, timetable of start date and completion, the cost, when progress payments are to be made, warranties and mechanisms to arbitrate disagreements. With these details, a customer can be assured that their best interests are taken into consideration as well as the contractors. It’s important to remember that a contract should be mutually beneficial to all parties.
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What does the warranty cover and for how long?
Our warranty is for one full year on labor, product warranty is dependent on the manufacturer’s warranty.
There are of certain exceptions to the rule. For example, quite often sub trades will be asked to install some item or fixture for the homeowner’s. A classic example of this would be the homeowner’s desire to buy all of their plumbing fixtures from some plumbing supply store. This creates an awkward situation because if there becomes a warranty problem due to defective product, who actually pays to have the product replaced and returned to the store? Unfortunately the homeowner is responsible in this case since it was no fault of the plumber and the product was defective. It is unlikely that the plumbing supply store will come out and remove and replace the defective fixture. The best way to proceed to avoid this circumstance is to have each sub trade supply the products that are generally supplied by them and then if anything should go wrong within the warranty period, the sub trade is ultimately responsible to look after the product that requires servicing at no cost to the homeowner. Failing that the general contractor should accept this responsibility.
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Do you use products that meet the relevant building codes?
Yes we use only the products that are of the highest standards, which meet or exceed the building codes. Are there substandard products in the marketplace?
How does a homeowner know if they are substandard? For the most part there are few, if any substandard products. Certain products only become substandard when they are expected to perform beyond their design specifications. In some cases, products are manufactured to meet a minimum level of standard, in order to be certified for use in the home building industry. When we renovate or remodel a home, we try to impress on the homeowner that using the cheapest product is not necessarily the cheapest choice. The reason a product may be inexpensive is that its useful lifespan is quite a bit shorter than a middle of the road product. If the homeowner chooses to use that inexpensive product in their home, that product may have to be replaced sooner than the higher quality product.
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Can we visit one of your work sites?
We would be more than willing to show you our work.
If “A picture is worth a thousand words”, imagine going to the jobsite of a contractor who is in total disarray and chaos. Many of the homes renovated today have homeowner’s who are still occupying the residence while the work is being done. A clean and well-organized site is also a productive and safe one. When a client visits a site, the first thing that he or she should do is ask if they have permission to view inside the home. If they are not permitted, then they should expect the same thing to happen to while the contractor is working on their home.
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Who in the company does the work? How much of the work is subcontracted out?
At Nord Alta we are actively involved in developing your project, we work as a team in conjunction with select sub-trades who have been chosen based on price, reliability and quality.
There are two very different ways in contracting with a renovator. The first way is to use a contractor that is involved directly with the project either by doing specific tasks and sub contracting out various sub trades. Or secondly having an employee acting as project coordinator to supervise all the sub trades that would be on site. We at Nord Alta take a very active role and become involved in some of the construction process as well as supervise the other sub trades. The reason for doing this is that we become more intimate and knowledgeable about that specific work site since we are there for longer periods of time, not only supervising but also performing some of the tasks. This gives the opportunity to avoid any uncertainties or difficulties that may arise and keep the work schedule on track.