Home renovation from out of state

March 28, 2022 7:16 PM

We are purchasing a home in Texas in April but aren't moving in until May. We are wanting to get it ready before we move in. But how do we do that from 500 miles away?

I am meeting a variety of contractors for specific items like flooring, painting, etc. but I wont be there while they are working. How do we handle keys and supervision short of getting a general contractor who can babysit them?

posted by tafetta, darling! to Home & Garden (7 answers total)

For keys, you could install a keypad lock, and change the access code as needed.
posted by pinochiette at 7:40 PM on March 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

Cheaper than a keypad lock is a combination lockbox that has your house key inside, which you or your realtor secures someplace subtle but easy-to-describe on your property. Combine this with a security system that you can arm from your phone and maybe a cloud-connected camera if you're having a hard time trusting your contractors with carte blanche access to your known-vacant house.

Depending on how expensive your house was and how much work is to be done, your realtor may also offer to help you out with this to some extent.
posted by potrzebie at 8:47 PM on March 28, 2022

Honestly, someone to babysit them is a good idea from experience. Several friends have done this and ended up with very low quality or even dangerous work being done. Paying someone without being able to inspect the work is a recipe for poor quality work. Maybe in the age of zoom you could suggest frequent checkins and sign offs on materials. But I think you would be spending good money on a trustworthy contractor. Who, incidentally, I would absolutely 100% not take the recommendation of a Realtor for since they’re most often geared towards curb appeal than lasting quality work. I would do research and find someone with a superb reputation, and accept that the money you pay now will save you heartbreak and pain in the long run.
posted by Bottlecap at 11:59 PM on March 28, 2022 [4 favorites]

I don’t know what the market for such work is like in Texas generally, let alone the specific area you’re moving to, but the timeline seems improbable. Demand is still high for such services, some materials still hard to get, and in my area, anyone you could hire to start work immediately would be someone you really don’t want to hire. Furthermore tradesmen may prioritize work for general contractors, with whom they need to maintain good relationships, over work for you, with whom they don’t. I’d have a plan B in mind.
posted by jon1270 at 4:25 AM on March 29, 2022 [9 favorites]

It would depend on how much work you are actually having done, but it would be simpler to manage if you had a single point of contact for all of it (i.e., a general contractor, construction manager, etc.). That way it isn't you trying to schedule and monitor multiple subcontractors from a distance.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:01 AM on March 29, 2022

I've dealt with some of this recently and I agree that some corners were cut that I would have caught had I been present. Stuff like paint drips on furniture/floors, switching out who performed the work, etc. If you can't get a trusted friend to act as your surrogate, I'd strongly recommend planning to travel in as much as you can. Or at least facetime them to evaluate the work (not ideal but better than nothing).

The actual logistics of letting folks in is easy, we have a simplisafe system including a simplisafe smart lock and camera. It's easy enough to let folks in that way (and know when they came/went - this was helpful when one contractor blatantly lied to us about coming by) and re-arm the house if they forget, although of course some types of work (painting mostly) required that the keypad/lock/camera/etc be temporarily moved or removed. We didn't have too many security concerns since we didn't really have anything of value in the house yet.
posted by mosst at 10:29 AM on March 29, 2022

Honestly I would find a licensed general contractor. You need eyes on the work, and you may need recourse of some kind if the work isn't to your liking. If you can't do that you should try to find a way to go there while the work is done. There are numerous things that can go wrong here and at the very least that means more money and time spent for you. But I also lean toward the notion that there is not enough time to get these things done between purchase and move-in whether you are there or not- it's a very short time frame.
posted by oneirodynia at 12:48 PM on March 29, 2022