Hiring a contractor for a kitchen or bath remodel
Hiring a remodeling contractor works best in four steps taken in order: check the public register kept by the state where the work will happen, issue one written scope of work to every bidder unchanged, compare the quotes against that one list of lines, and then read payments against work actually finished.
The order the four steps have to happen in
Most of what goes wrong between a homeowner and a contractor is decided before anybody picks up a tool, by the order in which four ordinary things were done. Check the business, describe the job once, compare the quotes against that description, and keep the payments tied to finished work. Out of order, each step costs more and tells you less.
Checking comes first because it is free and it changes the questions you ask at the first meeting. The scope of work comes second, because it has to exist before the quotes are written rather than after. Comparison is arithmetic rather than instinct. Payments come last and never stop mattering.
What the register can and cannot tell you
A public register is the floor, not the recommendation. California licenses contractors and publishes that seeing a license number does not necessarily mean the license is valid, so the status is the thing to check. Washington registers contractors, and its lookup shows whether the workers compensation account is paid to date and whether there are lawsuits against the bond. Pennsylvania registers home improvement businesses and states plainly that registration is not an endorsement, a recommendation or an approval.
Model code figure, verify locally. Those three states are three different models and none of them is a national rule. Rules for home improvement work differ by state and sometimes by city, and what applies where you live is decided by your own state licensing or registration authority. Verify locally.
One description of the job, three quotes, one list of lines
Three bidders told the same story three times will price three different projects, and the gaps between the totals measure how much each decided to include. One written scope of work, issued unchanged to all three, turns three descriptions into one.
The comparison that follows is mechanical. Put every quote against the same list of lines, mark every line nobody priced, value those lines at what the other bidders charged, and total the allowances. The lowest quoted total and the lowest adjusted total are frequently two different names.
Everything on these pages is general planning information. It does not tell you what an agreement means, whether a term is enforceable, or what to do in a dispute, and none of it is legal or financial advice. Those questions belong with a qualified professional in the state where the work is happening.
Change orders and allowances, and where a remodel quietly goes over
A change order is a written record of work added or removed, with what it cost and how many days it added. Allowances are the other way a total moves without anybody doing anything wrong.
How to check a contractor before you spend an hour on the phone
The public register comes first, and it is not called the same thing in every state. What three state authorities publish about their own registers, what to ask for before the meeting, and the reference call in order.
Why three contractor quotes for the same job never match
Three quotes usually differ because they priced different work, not because one business is cheaper. How to read them against one list of lines, count what is missing, and total the allowances.
Your contractor wants 50 percent up front. Here is how to think about it
What a large deposit does and does not tell you, what one state licensing board publishes about down payments, and the one number that shows whether your payments have run ahead of the work.
The final walkthrough, as a method
A walkthrough done by wandering finds what you happen to look at. Raking light, a level, a tape and a camera, room by room in a fixed order, and the records to collect while everybody is still on site.
What a scope of work for a kitchen and bath remodel should contain
A scope of work is the one description of the job that every bidder prices, unchanged. The sections it needs, the supply and install table that decides most of it, and why the allowances are set by you.