S
ome contractors impress clients with the number of workers they bring. The compound is full of people, noise everywhere, and you feel like work is moving fast. Then you look closely and realize half of them don’t actually know what they’re doing. Renovation doesn’t need a crowd — it needs skilled hands.
Always ask who exactly will do the specialized work: tiling, wiring, plumbing, waterproofing. These tasks are not for random laborers. A bad tiler can waste expensive tiles. A careless electrician can create a future fire hazard. Don’t be shy to request previous photos or locations of jobs done by those specific workers, not just the company name.
Also, agree on who buys what. Some contractors quietly replace specified materials with cheaper substitutes and keep the difference. Write brand, size, and type in the contract: tile grade, pipe thickness, cable rating, wood type. “Tile is tile” and “pipe is pipe” is how renovation disasters happen.
The most important lesson: ask questions early, not after damage is done. Correcting mistakes costs more than preventing them.