In years past, if someone wanted to remodel their kitchen, all they needed was a home equity loan and a contractor. This process became so easy that many people planned their projects, hired their contractors, and began work before getting the funding to pay for everything.

Because of today’s tight lending rules, this doesn’t work anymore. This may seem like common sense to you, the contractor, but is it common sense to your customer?

As I visit with contractors and their subs, I learn that chances are, it’s not. The result? These contractors have sold their schedules out months in advance, only to have their jobs shut down or not start when they were scheduled. They end up paying the overhead and employee salaries. Meanwhile, their crew sits around wondering if the competitor is hiring.

SAVE YOURSELF

To save significant expense and headache:

• Consult your customer on the tightened lending rules early on in the project planning phase.

• Request that your customer secures funding prior to locking in your schedule.

• If they don’t know who to go to, have a list of trustworthy and friendly lenders you can refer to them.

Your customer should be able to secure funding in sufficient time to move forward on the project once planning is complete.  And that's the game!