You don’t know anything about the building process when you go into a renovation. You assume the kablan you hire will do the job right. Unfortunately when looking for a kablan, most people are just shopping for the best price. People think they are saving money by finding the least expensive kablan. They don’t realize that a good kablan will give you a better end product and ultimately save you money in the process.
Don’t all kablanim do the same thing? Nope. When you first look at the finished product you see the same white walls and granite porcelain floors like in all the other apartments…but as you live in your home things may begin to deteriorate if your kablan was lax in using the correct types of quality materials.
Is he insulating your walls correctly? Is he skimping out on layers of thermal coatings that are supposed to be there? Layers of shlicht that should be included? Is he using waterproof material where necessary or does he just keep saying “Hakol b’seder”…
Let’s take geves walls as another example. There are many types – regular, waterproof, fireproof, insulated…Did your kablan put waterproof geves under your central air unit in the drop ceiling? There are various types of fillers to insulate geves walls each one with different properties to sound proof and/or insulate your walls. Did the kablan ask you what your needs are? Will the yechidah you built next door hear every conversation in your home?
How about windows? Did he tell you that the special double pane window is not enough to prevent the condensation build up and keep in the heat in the winter or air conditioning in the summer? Did he put in insulated window panes? Did he give you options for tris boxes or do you like having cold air blowing in from the tris box?
A mefakaich bniyah is not the solution. He checks in the morning and hopefully in the evening, he works on a few jobs at a time and he is not around most of the time when the kablan or his workers are working. A mefakaich can’t possibly check everything and many mistakes are intentionally hidden from him. If you hired a kablan that requires a mefakach bniyah that means you don’t trust your kablan. Its a mistake to hire a kabalan you don’t trust.
If a kablan seems a bit pricey for you that is often a good sign. That means they are not skimping on important details, take pride in their work and are commited to doing the job right. A cheap kablan will cause you lots of heartache with their carelessness, leave out important details and finishings, and will end up costing you more money in the long run fixing their mistakes. That’s if you’re lucky. Many of these kablanim walk away before he’s finished.
So don’t be so quick to turn down the kablan that will do the job right. Don’t just go for the lowest bidder. Pick the right man for the job and stick to your budget by working with a designer to help you make the right choices throughout the renovation process on materials, lighting, cabinetry furniture and finishings.
