Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions about Liberty home Services and Home Redmodeling?
Remeber if you do not find the ansers you are looking for here, feel free to call or E-mail us and we will do our best to assist you.

Do you guarantee your products or services?

Yes, we guarantee that ALL of our work will be free of any defect from manufacturing or installation. We offer a 60 day replace or repair at no cost guarantee for our smaller Handyman Services. Most of our larger projects, finished basements, decks, baths, cabinets, bookcases, trim etc., come with a four year limited warranty on material and labor. Liberty also passes on to our clients any and all factory manufacturing warranties on all materials used on job. Some items cannot be warrantied due to issues like extreme weather or moisture that is beyond our control.

I am a little nervous about having strangers into my home for repair work, how do I know that Liberty's employees are "decent"?

Liberty screens it's applicants for employment and will not hire anyone with a felony conviction. We also require our employees to submit to random drug testing. We have a zero tolerance for substance abuse. While we do not always automatically fire someone with a substance abuse problem, we do demand that they seek help, and we monitor their progress carefully. Our over-riding policy here is simple, would we want this man or woman in our own home? If the answer is no, well then, we won't send him or her to your house.

Is most of your work Contract Work or Time and Materials?

About 20% of our work is handyman work. We do most of our smaller jobs (under $1,500.00), Time plus Material. Whenever it is possible we will proved a no less then/no more than estimate over the phone before we come out, then once on the job we will narrow the estimate down as much as possible. With some jobs an estimate is not feasible due to issue like not knowing the condition of things behind the walls (electrical, plumbing and HVAC). We do give set pricing for larger jobs and include a guaranteed completion date in our contracts.

I have been told to never do a job Time plus Material. What do you say to those who suggest that T and M jobs always cost more than contract pricing?

When an estimator works up a cost sheet for labor and materials, he/she always adds anywhere from 10-30% more (depending on the type of job). They do this because when trying to figure out cost for an upcoming project, the experienced estimators all know that job cost overruns are normal, so they "mark up" the job costs in the effort to account for any and all problems that may arise. This process of marking up the job costs to accommodate overruns, is a necessary part of contract labor and we practice this strategy like any other reputable and experienced contractor. Quite simply "T & M" is usually a more cost efficient method for you. In a contract situation if a job comes under budget we make more money, in a Time plus Materials job, you keep this money in your pocket. Now this whole paragraph is only true if you are hiring a reputable contractor like Liberty Home Services, but with many of the shoddy and unethical companies "T & M" is an open invitation to get ripped off. To give an example of our sense of fair play when working by the hour, whan and if our men take smoke breaks (most of our men to not smoke at all), we insist that they take of seven minutes for every cigarette they smoke. We also round up to the nearest 15 minutes when we are billing you and accurately clock in when we arrive.

Q	On our last project we hired a company that took our 20% downpayment and eagerly started the job, but then they began to drag their feet, showing up late or not at all. They kept "re-scheduling", and as a result a job that should have taken days took weeks. How can I be sure this won't happen with your company?
A	On our Handyman jobs we tell you exactly when we will show up each day and when we will complete the project. On our contract jobs we give a completion date in writing. Our job foreman will give you a weekly schedule of events so you can be in touch with the day to day progress of your project.

We are looking for contractors to bid on our upcoming basement project, how many bids should we get?

We get this question a lot. The answer is three or four at the most. Instead of spending all the time getting getting 8-10 contractors to give you estimates, time which amounts to about an hour to an hour and a half per estimate, take the time to find 3-4 truly qualified contractors. Here is what you should look for: a) been in business at least five years b) has and can produce a Virginia Class "A" contractors license c) General Liability and Workman's Compensation insurance and can provide a certificate for both, watch out for those contractors who tell you that state law does not require Worker's Compensation Insurance, that is usually not true. d) Have at least ten local references for the type of work you are looking to have done. We provide all jobs currently under construction and the last ten in the order of their completion dates. e) Ask each contractor how much money down he requires when signing a contract. In our opinion anything more than 10% is excessive and risky for you, we do not charge anything upfront and only bill our clients for phases of work already completed.

We have heard horror stories of contractors who have taken draws without paying their suppliers and sub-contractors. After they have been made for most of the job the homeowners discovered that liens were being filed against their home for these unpaid charges, what can we do to protect oursleves against this type of abuse?

We too have heard these stories and in most cases it is due to the fact that the contractor is in debt and using your current payments to pay off past debts on past jobs, or he is just a crook. either way this is in violation of Virginia law and you can swear out a warrant for contract fraud in many cases. However, we all know that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and getting your contractor in trouble does very little to help your situation. Here is what you do, demand that he and all of his suppliers and subs sign what is called a release of liens. This is a simple form that in effect waives the right to address any remedy for unpaid money through the use of a lien against your property. This will prevent any of the suppliers or subs from signing off on their money that is owed to them by the contractor and will give you prompt notice that your contractor is not paying his abligatios as he should. Simply insist on the lien releases BEFORE you pay your contractor any draws. Also, to be on the safe side make this requirement a part of the contract. You can also ask your attorney if you should use a lien agent.

We have heard to avoid the cheapest bid and pick the one in the middle, seems like sound advice but it this always true?

If you follow the advice above on picking 3-4 valid qualified contractors you can sidestep the biggest problem with low ball bids and bids that are price gouging. If you have filtered out only contractors that are qualified, their bids should all be no lower or higher than 10% of each other. If they are we suggest you throw them out and get a new bid. Example: you get three bids one is for $20,000.00, one is for $23,000.00 and one for $25,300.00; you would throw out the $20,000.00 bid because it is 15% lower than the middle bid, the highest bid is exactly 10% higher and this is a bid you should keep and consider; then go out and get one more bid and see how the numbers re-allocate. If you get another low bid that is 15% lower you might then throw out the highest bid and get one more. This process is tedious but necessary to ensure both a quality job and preventing a situation where the contractor will get frustrated and start to take short cuts in quality and the end product. It is our belief that if you pre-qualify your contractors they will automatically be within 10% of each other, and you can make your choices based on other factors like availability and personality.