What to check before you sign a remodeling contract

How do I check if a remodeler is licensed in Maryland or DC?

Look the license up yourself on the state's own record. In Maryland, home improvement contractors are licensed by the Maryland Home Improvement Commission, and the Maryland Department of Labor has an online license search. In DC, the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection keeps the license records.

Search by company name and license number, and check that the name on the license matches the name on your contract. The number on our license is 420226000078. The credentials page has the rest.

What should a remodeler show me before I sign, past projects, references, insurance?

Photos of finished work like yours, a license number you can check, and a certificate of insurance with your name, or your condo board's, on it. Reviews you can read on a public profile, and the written scope and price for your job.

If a company will not hand over the insurance certificate before you sign, stop there. We send ours with the proposal, and our projects and reviews are on this site.

Should I get more than one quote for a bathroom remodel?

Yes, two or three. Compare the scopes before the totals: the waterproofing behind the tile, what each quote assumes about the subfloor and the drain, which items are allowances and at what figure, and who pulls the permit.

The lowest number often leaves one of those out. When two quotes are far apart, the gap is usually in what they include, and that is the question to ask both companies.

Should a kitchen remodel contract list every material and finish?

Yes, every one you have chosen, and an allowance for every one you have not. Cabinets by line, door style and finish. The counter material and edge, sink, faucet, backsplash tile, flooring, hardware and lighting.

Where a choice is still open, the contract should show a dollar allowance and the grade it assumes. A contract that only says new cabinets leaves the cabinets up to the contractor. Our guide to fixed prices and allowances explains how those lines are set.

What should be in the contract before a bathroom remodel starts?

The scope, item by item: demolition, any subfloor and drain work, the waterproofing system, the tile with its layout and how high it runs, the vanity, toilet, valve and trim, glass, a fan vented outside, lighting and outlets.

Then each allowance and its dollar amount, the name of whoever pulls the permit, the start date and expected length, the price and payment schedule, how changes get priced, and the warranty term.

Is it normal to pay a deposit for a kitchen remodel?

Yes. A deposit before work starts is normal, and the rest of the payments should follow progress. In Maryland the home improvement law caps what a contractor can take before work begins at one third of the contract price.

Ask what the deposit pays for, and tie the later payments to milestones you can see, like cabinets installed or counters set, instead of calendar dates.

How are payments usually scheduled on a big addition?

In stages tied to milestones. A deposit at signing, then payments as each stage is built and inspected, for example the foundation, the framing and roof, the rough-ins, the drywall, and a final payment at completion.

The Maryland one-third limit applies to the deposit there too. Paying against finished stages keeps you from getting far ahead of the work. If a renovation loan is paying, the lender's draw schedule sets the stages, and we bill against it.

Should an addition contract include a completion timeline?

Yes, with the approvals shown apart from the construction. A start date, an expected length for each stage, and what happens to the dates if a permit or inspection runs late or you change something.

No contractor can promise how long a permit office takes. Any contractor can tell you how long the build itself runs once the permit is issued, and that part belongs in writing.

What we put in writing

Our estimates spell out the scope, every allowance with its figure, who pulls the permit, the payment schedule tied to milestones, and the warranty term, which runs 60 to 90 days on our work, before you sign. The estimate is free, and the price only changes in writing.