Steve Murphy wrote:
wrote on 4/4/05 6:37 PM:
Several factors go into this. Do you want to hire someone who can't
afford to pay for materials?

That is a concern. When making the sale, they continuously harped on
how
long they have been in business and how many contractors go under,
leaving
the customer in the lurch. Yet, they seem to have a problem covering
materials on a relatively small project.

Steve, you seem to be confusing some issues here. The fact that the
contractor has been in business for a long time points to his ability
to handle the business end as well as the construction end. I'm not
sure why you are assuming that he has a "problem" covering the
materials.

In general, it's bad business for a contractor to finance a
construction project without charging you for the service. Eventually
the contractor will get burned. Maybe the Owner (not owner of the
contracting company) will lose his job, get a divorce, have a cash flow
problem, whatever. When the cash flow for the contractor stops or
slows the problems can pile up very quickly. Believe me, you don't
want to be anywhere near a contractor that is running into cash flow
problems. It's better for you to know that he is charging a healthy
amount (not exorbitant) and is able to keep your project rolling. Your
other bids seem to bear out that he's not being exorbitant.

Some states prohibit intermingling of funds - the money you pay for
your doors can't go to buy the siding on another guy's home. There's
really only one way to do that.

Anyway, thank you everyone for the input. We are moving forward and
we'll
see how it works out. This is our first significant home maintenance
project, so I'm entirely na=EFve. We have more work to do after this,
so I
hope it doesn't turn into a long, painful process.

New doors is a capital improvement. Not maintenance. Big difference
when you're doing your taxes!

When you find a good contractor and establish a relationship, you'll
stop worrying about this stuff. The contractor will also stop worrying
about you.

R