Chapter 4 -- learning how to create a budget.

     Now it’s time to make the budget for the job.  First you are going to get all the prices that you got while you were going from store to store learning about all the wonderful materials and how there are installed.   If you didn’t get the prices of the materials that you need now is the time to phone or go around and get them.  It is also a good idea to find out what specialty tools that are needed and how much they are to rent.  Adding up all the materials will give you the material cost for the job but not the labour. 

     It is always a good idea to make a budget before starting any job, it will help you and the contractor in the long run.  By telling the contractor what budget you have in mind he can work with in it, also he can work with you in letting you know what is realistic and what isn’t.  He will use it to work with you in finding you what you want and what you are going for.  It will also tell the contractor that you put some thought in this and that you did your homework.  Now keep in mind he might recommend a product that you didn’t hear or know about at the stores, don’t be scared just ask him why he thinks that would work and what are the benefits.  By budgeting will also show the contractor that you are serious and not just kicking the tires.

      With the material budget you can make a guesstimate (you know guessing) how much the job is going to be.  Now there isn’t a general rule but you can get an idea of the cost.  Let us say all the materials for this job came to $6000.00 some say just doubling it would be suffice but you would be wrong.  Remember a good contractor has licensing fees, insurance fees, tool maintenance and labour to pay for.  A good starting number would be tripling the cost of the materials to get the budget.  Now remember the price can be higher, it can also be lower, it is just a starting point.  Also by breakdown of the cost you can easily decide what is important and what can wait for later if the total cost of the job is out of your budget.  Also when you learnt how to do the jobs maybe there is something you can do yourself.  

     Having the budget can also show you if the contractor is in left field or not.  You probably are going to get three quotes so having the budget will give you an idea of which contractor to go with.  It could show a contractor that has under bid might have a few surprises later.  But we will learn about that in the next few chapters.