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Frequently
Answered Questions |
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Our General Service Area's include: The North Shore, i.e. North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Burnaby, Port Moody, Lions Bay, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Greater Vancouver including Kitsilano and Point Grey. Our Extended Service Area's are: Squamish, Surrey, Langley, Richmond and New West. 'Extended Services Area's will require a fee of $75 Incl HST to recieve Consultation Time and a Quotation Document. This fee will be required at the time of the Site visit, but will be 'Rebated' To the Customer if We are Hired. (Reciept Provided) We also offer Contract and Management Services for larger scale projects that are Located in and Out of Town Areas. Please note that travel expenses will be charged accordingly for site meetings unless a letter of intent is offered and there is some fun associated with the visit. The out of town areas are: Whistler, Sunshine Coast, Penticton, Kamloops, Caribou Country, Gulf Islands, Vancouver Island, Kitimat or any where in B.C. . With the Proper Pictures, Plans & Measurements, a Accurate Estimate can be provided and returned by Email. Please note: 'Service Areas' are only stated as a general guide and may be dependent on current work load. Please Call or Email to check our availability or to offer an 'out of town' proposal if you have one. Issue's like Public Liability Insurance, should be a concern if you are a homeowner and want to consider the safety of family, friends and the General Public who at one time or another may be inadvertently around the project during and after it's completion. Even though Due West hasn't had an insurance claim filed before. Due West Carpentry and Renovations Ltd. carries a fully comprehensive 3 million dollar Public Liability Policy which can be confirmed with Please note that anybody who works on your property for more than 8 hours is Legally required to have Workers Compensation Coverage. ".....The law requires WorkSafeBC to compensate injured workers - even when employers have not registered with WorkSafeBC. If a homeowner does not register with WorkSafeBC and pay premiums when required, the results could be costly. WorkSafeBC may charge the homeowner for all compensation costs and unpaid premiums from overdue accounts ..... " More often than not, some trade's claim ("ya, ya, ya...") to have WCB coverage when in fact they don't, or aren't up to date with there account, which is considered the same. Due West Carpentry And Renovations Ltd. is Dilligent and usually hires trades that have WCB coverage but also pays into a 'contractor classification' to protect our customers and workers. Even though it is one of the highest rates, it is 'Blanket coverage' that covers all the higher risk and higher premium trades people that may be required to step onto your property during a renovation project. Just remember, they are called 'accidents' because no one expects them to happen. As an example in 2005 I Broke my leg in so many places that they put a full leg cast on me for 6 months with a few months of therapy after. At the time I had 2 projects on the go and 3 more booked right after with a crew of 5 to keep busy. I had a responsibility to my customers and my employees and some might even remember me rolling around projects in my wheel chair or hanging out a window nailing trim boards while someone was holding onto my cast so I wouldn't fall out the window. I very well could of cancelled all operations and sat on my sofa watching half a season of oprah while collecting my WCB compensation cheques. But my employees picked up the slack, and I was saved from 6 months of day time TV. But If this had happened to one of my employees they would have needed and recieved that WCB coverage to survive, because unfortunately they wouldn't have been of much use to me at the job site. You should clarify that all the contractors bidding on your project are all providing the same criteria so that you can properly identify what each contractor is specifically going to provide you for the amount of money they think it will cost to complete the job. Providing a scope of work or list of objectives prior to our arrival will privide a clear course of direction, but is not mandatory if help is needed in determining these objectives. An 'Estimate' is an educated guess (Or uneducated Guess) on what the project may cost the client, based on loosley determined needs and wants of the client. This is usually provided for general consultation purposes, restoration projects, mangement only contracts ("cost plus") or to clients who's primary project directives don't concern money. A 'Budget' is also a prediction of costs but usually based on a bare minimum of requirements and therefore may not provide the customer with a realistic overview of what the 'finishing costs' will amount to as the choices the client makes are added to the final invoice a la carte to the 'contract' without unbiased comparison or competetive review for the additional costs. (i.e. the sky is the limit) Some contractors will form there own opinions of what they think will suit you best or what will make the price appear lower on paper in order to 'secure the job' so they don't have to waste any time on you untill they know they have the job. Overbooking, lack of experience, laziness, cunning/upselling and poor service can also be attributed to 'Budgets' that appear much lower than the proposal of some other competitors who may have spent the time informing, establishing, and determining the clients needs and thus providing a proposal document outlining a specific 'scope of work' known as a 'Quotation' based on the level of quality and sound knowledge that the customer realistically requires to have the project completed. 'Hidden costs' Should only be a fee for well hidden obstacles or obstuctions of the intended scope of work, Not an excuse to bill the client more because of a lack of knowledge or mistakes by incompetent or poorly managed workers. The lack of details on the original proposal can also leave more room for unscrupulous contractors to inflate added costs and extras to an allready under bid proposal which will also limit customer choices provided by the contractor if they make a fuss which can make the client/contractor relationship awkward, uncomforting and in some cases disasterous. 'Additonal costs' are usually associated with client upgrades and changes going over budgetable items (non-standard building materials) within a quotation in order to tailor the project to their needs as they see the project unfold. In other words the more prepared you are as a customer on what you want your project to turn out like and what you are willing to budget prior to the arrival of bidding contractors, the more likely everyone will be picking apples from the same tree when providing you with there proposals. Currently there is no fee for a Site Visit, Evaluation, Consultation & Written Quotation if it is determined that Due West has a fair chance at being awarded the project without compromising quality standards. Larger projects may only be issued an estimate at first for time managment purposes, and then a detailed and thorough quote thereafter if required. Your average Quote consists of meeting with you to perform a site inspection and assessment. After offering advice and determining your needs a written quote will be provided to you via email. There are not to many other services available where the business actually comes to the client. And unfortunately some people don't seem to acknowledge or appreciate that providing quotes, is time that we could be spending on existing projects and clients and getting paid for that time or catching up on errands. Each visiting contractor will spend a minimum of two hours including travel time and Fuel Costs to meet and offer the client some sort of insight and information. If they choose to bid on the job, that will require a Minimum of another 2-4 hours of preparation time. (On larger projects, 2-5 Days) This may involve making drawings and faxing those details off to suppliers and sub contractors in order to compile an accurate quote to present to the customer. For various reasons some will bid higher and some will bid lower, but they all will have spent some sort of time on you. It is a Professional Courtesy not to mention Good 'Manners', to thank and inform everyone of the results so they can competitively better themselves at providing quotations in the future and be confident that when the next customer calls for a quote, that it will be appreciated and Not taken for Granted. We recommend that you get 3 quotations for evaluation purposes and ask each contractor when you can expect that quote. If you have not received those quotes or a notification of delay within that time frame we recommend getting another quote from a more reliable contractor. The Canadian Mortage & Housing Corporation (CHMC) has a Good Article on this Topic: Once you have accepted our Quotation proposal, a contract will be forwarded to you for your review which will specify a payment and work schedule, and all other pertinent information. After approval of the contract a retainer/deposit (specified in the contract) will be required in order to finalize the booking of your project. At this point final design elements and decisions will be made and any special order items will be ordered. Depending on your project you may also be given a list of items that you will be required to shop for, where my network of suppliers will be welcome to assist you if you do not have any contacts of your own. Further Contractual Details, Obligations and Warranties will be provided in the appropriate documents. |
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