Tips for Finding Your Perfect Contractor

• Ask for referrals from friends, neighbors, and co-workers.
• Ask other people who have done work for you in the past such as your plumber or gardener.
• Search your local and free newspapers for contractors' ads.

Always make sure your home remodeling contractor is fully licensed with state and local governments. Make sure the license is valid and up to date—do not rely on the contractor's word. You should contact your state, county, and city governments for information on the contractor's license. The website www.contractors-license.org lists licensing requirements for all fifty states. Also make sure the contractor is fully insured and carries worker's compensation, liability, and property damage insurance.

Follow this contract checklist: Every contract should include:

• Remodeling Contractor information including name, address, telephone numbers, license number.
• A list of what the contractor will and will not do—for example, the tasks you have chosen to do, such as painting or demolition.
• All materials, sizes, colors, specifications.
• A dated copy of all drawings and diagrams. If changes need to be made during the project, they should be made to these documents and initialed and dated by both you and the contractor.
• Start and finish dates.
• The times work will start and finish and the days of the week that workers will be at your home.
• How change orders will be handled.
• A warranty for one year.
• binding arbitration clause.
• A statement of how the contract can be canceled.
• A statement that the contractor will provide affidavits of final release, final payment, or final lien waivers from all subcontractors and suppliers.

Marrokal Design & Remodeling has a "Make-It-Right" Gurantee

In tough economic times, warranties are often compromised. Some companies won’t offer guarantees of their work. That should be a red flag to a homeowner.

“If I put a new roof on your house and five or 10 years from now it leaks, my company will take care of it; shouldn’t we? You want a company that if you have any problems, you know they’ll be taken care of,” says Gary Marrokal, owner of Marrokal Design and Remodeling.

He says homeowners should try to find out how problems were handled by a company that they are considering hiring.

“Today’s society and world are not perfect but how I handle those imperfections— whether it’s during the job or three years later—is what creates memorable moments for clients.”

The make-it-right guarantee is what continues to grow Marrokal Design and Remodeling.  Just ask his clients who will tell you that trust, longevity, people with experience, and a full-service company that starts from beginning of concept design to the completion of a project are what made them loyal clients for life.

Marrokal Design and Remodeling is Your One-Stop-Shop for Home Remodels

The full-service home-design remodel company offers homeowners one-stop shopping for their remodeling needs. “I develop a written program based on what my clients’ needs and goals are for their remodel,” says Steve Walton, Senior Design Consultant for Marrokal Design and Remodeling. He adds, “Throughout this I am digging deep and finding out what’s important to my clients. A lot of companies don’t ask these questions but this is how Marrokal Design and Remodeling starts to develop a preliminary budget for our clients.”

The company also uses value engineering to design the remodel with clients’ budget needs and requested items in mind. “Value engineering” means refining and sometimes redesigning aspects of the remodel to make it more cost-effective.

Why a full-service remodeling company?
This is perhaps one of the most significant points when choosing a remodeling firm. A full-service company keeps your remodeling project running smoothly by coordinating all of the necessary design, construction developments, and communication with trade companies through one primary source (removing the unnecessary hassle of trying to get numerous trade companies to work together).

“When people are first looking into a home remodeling project, money tends to be the number one factor but, when the work is finished, the money factor actually drops to six or seven on the list,” says Walton. He says what ends up being more important is the fact that the homeowner hired a remodeling company that provided a complete understanding of the entire remodeling process, and oversaw the project from the design phase to the building of it—leaving the homeowner with just one primary company to work with during the remodel.

Getting the Best Value for Your Remodel: Key Tips to hiring a Quality Remodeler

Whether you’re remodeling your home for comfort or to increase the value, homeowners know that a well-done remodel can bring both pleasure and a good return on investment.

Remodeling is, however, a big step for many homeowners. Getting the best value for your remodel shouldn’t come from guesswork; instead, knowing how to find a remodeling company with a solid reputation and one that delivers quality work throughout the entire remodeling process requires research.

How to get the best remodel for your dollar? Make sure the company that is doing the remodel asks the right questions, does its homework, and offers full-service design and remodeling under one roof.

Does the remodeling company offer a written contract based on your remodeling needs?
Steve Walton, Senior Design Consultant for Marrokal Design and Remodeling, San Diego, California helps clients sort through what can be a complicated process to get the best value remodel that meets all his clients’ needs.

“When I meet with clients, I have them describe their ideas for the remodeling project. I take a lot of notes,” says Walton. The design consultant then sets another meeting at Marrokal’s Design and Remodeling center. Prior to this meeting Walton has already done his homework and researched any likely obstacles for the remodel. Some companies take on a project and later discover remodeling barriers.

“I get your set-backs, zoning conditions, and height conditions and try to see if there are any issues. That way when we meet at our design center we can start looking at the architectural process,” says Walton.

Tips for a Successful Remodel!

• Solid reputation. “There are lots of companies that are going out of business these days,” says Steve Walton, Senior Design Consultant for Marrokal Design and Remodeling.  Make sure you check to see how long the home remodeling company has been in business.

• Company awards and other noteworthy publicity. Successful design and remodeling companies have received awards to show off some of their top-quality work; ask the company about what awards it has received. For instance, Marrokal Design and Remodeling has won national awards including the 2008 Western Remodeler of the Year. The company also received the Better Business Bureau’s 2008 Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics. The award is designed to promote the importance of ethical business practices as well as the willingness and efforts made by businesses to ensure that the marketplace remains fair and honorable.

• Referrals. Make sure the company can provide plenty of past clients for you to speak to about their remodeling project. “In our case, Marrokal Design and Remodeling has more than 2,000 past client references for potential clients to review,” says Walton.

• Make sure the architectural drawings provide an accurate picture of your remodel. “We provide interior and exterior perspective color renderings as well as mechanical three-dimensional computer modeling. The renderings are more of a finished look and the mechanical drawings are used in the early design process to get a sense of the space,” says Walton. Both methods are extremely helpful in aiding clients to understand how their remodel will look before and after. Walton adds, “A sophisticated design phase helps homeowners understand what they’re getting so that when the clients are in the construction phase they don’t have many, if any, changes.”

What Should a Design and Remodeling Company Offer Me?

If a company offers free design, you’ll likely get what you pay for.  If a company is offering “free design” it’s likely that the design fees are somewhere hidden in the overall cost.

“The design can make or break the project,” says Steve Walton, Senior Design Consultant for Marrokal Design and Remodeling. It’s the least amount of the cost of the overall project but it’s highly critical to the success of your remodel. “With our process we’re going to talk to homeowners about what furniture is sentimental and how it will fit in the remodel, sun orientation, views, traffic patterns and flow, and our clients’ lifestyle—this is how we build the project. We don’t build it from a, ‘Oh, I want to add an 8 x 10 room.’ Instead I find out how my clients live and what they’re all about and then the project is designed based on those answers.”

Does the remodeling company offer several design options to help you stay within your budget?

“You have to be open to a certain budget range that you’re comfortable in and then you should really spend time up front reviewing a lot of different designs so that you don’t get locked into one design at one price point. That happens a lot. People will hire an architectural firm and they’ll end up going through weeks and weeks of planning or drawing. They’ll get a set of plans down to the point where they can then send it out for bids and then usually they find out that they’re over budget.”

Marrokal Design and Remodeling creates options that are best suited to its clients based on customers’ desired remodeling needs.

“The first meeting we have with the clients gives them specific costs for, say, six different concepts. That gives homeowners the freedom to choose based on their financial comfort level and design needs. It’s a huge difference from the architect drawing the plans, then the homeowner having to get bids on the project. This is why we’re so successful because we give clients the flexibility to choose the design and project that creates the best value remodel,” says Walton.

Marrokal Wins Remodeler of the Year!

Marrokal Wins Remodeler of the Year!  Here is a short excerpt from our success story:

No one has been immune to the challenges of the remodeling market the last several years, but Marrokal Design & Remodeling has weathered the storm better than most other firms.  With a strong focus on marketing and sales combined with smart management, San Diego-based Marrokal has maintained profitability even as revenues dipped in 2009 before rebounding this year. Because of that success and the way the management team has positioned the company for the next generation of leadership, Marrokal is our  Remodeler of the Year

To see the entire story go here: http://www.housingzone.com/pr/article/2010-remodeler-year-marrokal-design-remodeling