Proj595 - Risk Paper #2

Building a Garage

Pat Bison

Keller Graduate School of Management, DeVry University

Proj595 - Risk Paper #2

Risk Paper #2

Two years after purchasing our house my husband and I decided it was time to add the garage we so desperately needed. The argument, as with many couples, is who will be building this garage and it was no different for this project in our house. My husband believed he could save on some of the costs by doing much of the prep work and then have the contractor come in and just build. I on the other hand knew better and wanted the contractor from the beginning ensuring we had a professionally built garage with the specifications we wanted and backed by a warranty.

To prepare for this project, we sat down to make a list of pros and cons along with my husband's list of what he considered cost savings prep work. For me, a contractor can save us money as he will or should have the skills, experience, time and resources to do this project. He will have the ability to review the plans of the garage and give feedback for potential problems; estimate the costs, get material quotes, obtain permits and inspections and then build. Very few risks on my list to deter from using a contractor. My husband on the other hand believes because he worked construction through high school and college years that this gives him the experience and ability to build this garage. Perhaps. But, he does not have the time nor the resources to balance out what I feel the contractor can bring to this project. Before we finalized our decision we lastly compared our lists against our wants and needs and want kind of contract we'd look for from the contractor we'd ultimately choose.

After going back and forth a few times we finally settled on a fixed-price contract with a contractor that provided a quote in the middle; about $300 above the lowest quote and $1200 below the highest quote. Simply, this contractor offered more and provided a detailed justification of why...