Five questions to ask any contractor before a kitchen remodel

The kitchen is where the project starts and where it stalls. Cabinets are months out, the layout has to clear three different inspectors, and the homeowner is making three decisions a day for eight weeks straight. The contractor you pick is the difference between that being run as a project and run as a fire.

Five questions we wish every homeowner asked before signing.

1. Who is actually on site every day?

Not who is on the proposal. Not who shows up to the kickoff meeting. Who is here Monday at seven holding the tape measure. If the answer is "a subcontractor" without a name, you are not buying a builder. You are buying a coordinator.

2. What's the lead time on the cabinets?

Custom cabinetry can run twelve to twenty weeks. Semi-custom four to eight. Stock two to four. The honest answer changes how the rest of the job is sequenced. If a contractor cannot give you the cabinet lead time in the first conversation, they have not picked a cabinet maker yet.

3. How are change orders priced?

Change orders are not the problem. Surprise change orders are. Ask for the markup percentage in writing, ask how labor change is calculated, and ask whether the contractor will price changes before the work starts or after. "We will figure it out" is not an answer.

4. What happens if the cabinets arrive damaged?

Cabinets get banged up in transit. It is not a question of whether, it is a question of who eats the delay. Ask whether the contractor inspects on delivery, whether they have replacement units sourced locally, and what the schedule slip looks like if a full rerun is needed.

5. When do you walk the punch list?

Walk the punch list before the final payment, not after. Get a written list. Get a date by which each item closes. A good contractor wants the list as much as you do. A bad one wants the check first.

These are the questions we ask ourselves on every residential job. The answers are how we sequence the work, how we price the contract, and how we keep the schedule from sliding.

If you are about to start a kitchen project in El Paso or Las Cruces, the form above is a faster way to get a conversation going.