I am so jealous.  About five years ago we built a garage at a former home.  I swear the blood, sweat and tears that we endured over the concrete debacle, which took weeks to resolve, can still be seen in the pad.  M&J, on the other hand, got concrete this week, only two weeks in to their garage/family room project.  How is this possible?  I am taking it as a good omen for their project.

They are bound to have good results, though, because M&J are watching their contractor.  They took care to select a contractor that came with good recommendations and who worked locally so they could see examples of their work.  But they are also in close communication with their contractor.  In fact, J has had to hustle to work after spending too much time in the mornings hanging out with the contractors.  But being this close with the crew means that they’ll be able to catch little things.  Like the first day, J ensure the foundation for the structure wasn’t too built too close to the lot lines, since there was only one place that the structure could go to meet the code requirements.  If the contractor laid the structure six inches too close one way or another, the problem would only have been found after inspection, causing costs and delay in the project.  So advice from M&J is to keep close tabs on the details, and don’t assume that your contractor has it all perfectly aligned at all times.  Nobody cares about your project like you do.  And You don’t actually get what you pay for.  In my experience, when it comes to contractors, you get what you manage.Fortunately, M&J haven’t run in to any problems yet.  Let’s hope it stays that way.