By now, you’ve made some sort of decision on whether or not to accept any of your contractors’ bids or to boldly take on your home remodeling project on your own.  In either case, having well drafted contracts and other agreements are an absolute imperative.  It can potentially prevent a lot of heartache in the future when things go awry.  What they say is absolutely true - your home remodeling project will go awry in some form or fashion.   Having your contracts spell out who is responsible for what when things don’t go as plan helps protect everyone involved in the process.

A good place to start to drafting your contracts would be the Architects Institute of America (AIA).  The AIA offers excellent template contracts that you can use to protect the owner.  But beware about these contracts.  Just as they favorably position the homeowner they also elevate the authority of the architect.  If you are not working with an architect or are not comfortable with the architect taking on such elevated authority to mediate situations or perform contract administration of your home remodel, then you should reword the agreements to put “Owner” wherever “Architect” is mentioned where applicable.  Alternatively, if you have an architect and feel more comfortable hiring your architect to administer the contract and supervise your home remodel project, you can leave the terms as is - just be sure to understand what you’re delegating to your architect.