Exactly How to Talk to Contractors

TLDR

Contractor conversations break down into universal rules everyone in the trade already knows, and user preferences you have to explicitly state. Both get set three ways: verbal, written, and video. When something goes wrong, universal rules get enforced hard, preferences get handled with grace.

Table of Contents

• The Universal Rule vs the Preference
• Setting Expectations Three Ways
• Money, Materials, and the Pay Schedule
• When a Universal Rule Gets Broken
• When a Preference Gets Missed
• What About Liens?
• FAQ

The Universal Rule vs the Preference

I’ve done over 300 flips. I own 150 rentals. I send out literally three figures of contractor 1099s in a year. Point is, I’ve had a lot of conversations with contractors.

Here’s what most new investors miss. There are two different categories of things you care about on a job, and they need totally different conversations.

Universal rules. These are the things every tradesman already knows. If you call yourself a drywaller, using mesh tape where it meets the ceiling is wrong. Mesh tape has a specific purpose and that’s not it. Paper tape binds the joint and gives it the strength it needs. Corner beads matter. Mud gets mixed so there are no clumps. These aren’t preferences. They’re the baseline of what it means to call yourself a drywaller.

User preferences. These are your choices, and they are not automatically obvious to anyone. I want LVP to flow through the whole house without transition strips at the doorways. A lot of contractors would prefer to use transition strips because each room can be done separately, which is easier. Running the flooring continuously makes the house feel like a house instead of a group of rooms. That is my preference. It’s not universal. I have to say it.

Another one. I hate paint on door hinges. You could argue that’s universal, but I always explicitly point it out. If I find paint on the door hinges, I’m going to make the painter scrape it off.

Key Concept

Universal rules get enforced. Preferences get communicated. If you don’t know the difference, you end up lenient on things you should fight and confrontational on things you should let go.

Setting Expectations Three Ways

When I meet a contractor on a job site to set up a chunk of work, I always set expectations three ways.

The video is the one most investors skip. Don’t. I walk the property with my phone out and I say, “Okay, we’re doing LVP, no transition strips, it flows through the hallway into every room. We’re doing paint, here’s the color. We’re patching the drywall here, here, and here. We’re not doing the trim paint, that’s a different guy.”

Then I send them the video and the written scope. I ask them to bid against both. When the bid comes back, it’s pegged to three forms of the same spec. If they missed something, we see it. If I missed something, we see it too.

Pro Tip

I’ve got 20 projects going at any given time. I forget preferences. I forget scope items. The video is as much protection for the contractor as it is for me.

The reason I do chunks of work, not individual tasks, is simple. Chunks get better pricing because the contractor has runway for weeks. And I have fewer touches, which means fewer trips to the job site. The whole game is to not give yourself a job.

Money, Materials, and the Pay Schedule

I never pay up front. Full stop.

If a contractor tells me they need money for materials, I get it. I wouldn’t front my own money either if I were them. So we set up a Home Depot Pro account. I pay for materials directly. It’s actually a built-in management tool. Home Depot sends me text-to-confirm receipts before every purchase, so I can see what they’re buying. 2x4s, good. Fencing when we’re not doing fencing, not so good. Powerade and a payday bar, definitely not.

So there’s some risk. Yeah, they could run off with the material. There’s always some risk in every game. But labor payment comes after labor is done. That is the non-negotiable.

And their pay schedule comes in with the bid. I want to know exactly which completions trigger which draws. When they ask for a payment, we look at the scope of work, the video walkthrough, and the pay schedule together. The money is the power. That’s not nefarious, it’s just physics. If I’ve paid them ahead, I’ve given up the power to hold them accountable.

When a Universal Rule Gets Broken

Here’s a real example. A drywaller did the worst drywall work I’ve ever seen. Mesh tape at the ceiling. No corner beads. Clumps in the mud. Cracking all over. Calls himself a drywaller.

When he asks for the payment, this is how the conversation goes.

“Dude, mesh tape does not go there. There’s nothing you’ll find that says this is the correct way to do it. Not using corner beads is not correct either. This isn’t going to hold up. I can’t pay for that.”

Not combative. Not aggressive. Just true.

Then I give him the out.

“I don’t want to screw anybody over. I know you’ve done some hard work. I’m not in this business to burn bridges. I want to give you the opportunity to fix this. I have a timeline to keep, so I need it done quickly. It’s going to be hard because you’ll have to scrape off the mud you messed up and redo it. But I want to give you that shot first.”

If he says no, I get somebody else in there. Whatever they charge me to fix it, I deduct from his bid.

Costly Mistake

Don’t negotiate on universal rules. If you pay somebody for bad drywall because they’re a nice guy, you’ve just set a precedent that bad drywall is fine on your jobs. Other contractors notice.

When a Preference Gets Missed

Say the contractor forgets to run the flooring continuously. He put transition strips at every door. That’s my preference, not a universal rule. What do I do?

I lean on the side of “I’m in the wrong, not you.”

“Gosh, you forgot about the transition strips. That’s frustrating. It might affect whether I hire you for the next one. But fine, I don’t want to burn the bridge over this.”

Pay him. Move on. Don’t hire him again if the preferences keep getting missed. That’s how the depth chart upgrades over time. The guys who listen get more work. The ones who don’t get fewer jobs. Nobody needs to be fired in a dramatic way.

The line is clear: universal rules are non-negotiable and enforced hard. Preferences are communicated, graceful when missed, and used as the filter for who gets the next job.

What About Liens?

Every time I talk about pushing back on a bad job, someone asks about mechanic’s liens.

Yeah, it can happen. This is where you find out if you’re actually in the right or not. Take the drywall example. Get pictures. Get video. If they actually file a mechanic’s lien and you end up in small claims court, any judge who sees that work is going to say, “Hey guy, that’s not drywall.”

Every courtroom is different and I’m not a judge, so don’t take this as legal advice. But I’ve never lost sleep over it. The reality is most contractors who are in the wrong don’t have the administrative stomach to follow through on a lien. They’re out here because they don’t want to do paperwork. Filing a lien is paperwork.

Common Mistake

The fear of a lien is usually bigger than the actual risk. Document the work, stand your ground when you’re right, and don’t let the fear push you into paying for bad work just to avoid paperwork.

If you’re a business owner, sometimes you’ll face a legal situation. It’s going to be painful, you won’t like it, and it’s part of the deal. The trade-off for having the safe, soft, scary-free corporate job is letting someone else make all the freaking money. You chose this.

FAQ

How do I know if something is a universal rule or just my preference?

Ask two or three contractors. If all three agree it’s the standard, it’s universal. If one says “yeah we always do that” and another says “hmm, not everyone does that,” it’s a preference. The code book is universal. How you finish the corners of a shower niche is a preference.

What if my contractor says my preferences are unreasonable?

Listen to him. He might be right. Sometimes I give a preference like “run the LVP continuously” and a contractor pushes back because the subfloor height is off between rooms and there’s a structural reason for a transition. Good contractors will tell you when your preference conflicts with good practice. Bad ones won’t say anything and will just do it their way.

I’m brand new. How do I build a written scope of work?

Walk the house with a checklist of every possible job. Exterior, roof, siding, windows, MEP, framing, drywall, paint, flooring, cabinets, trim, finish. Check every item off, even the ones that don’t apply. The checklist forces you to cover everything. Then write the spec per job: what material, what color, what brand.

What’s the single most important conversation habit to develop?

Expectation-setting three ways. Verbal, written, video. Every project, every contractor, every time. If you only do one thing from this article, do that.

Can I just use a formal contract instead?

You can, but it won’t protect you the way you think. A contract is only as good as the enforcement, and on small rehabs the cost of enforcement is higher than the loss. A clear scope of work plus pay schedule plus documented walkthrough video is more practical in this business. Save the contracts for commercial work.