Durham & Raleigh
Home Addition Contractors

Hiring a Raleigh-Durham Pro for Your Home Addition

Please read this quick guide to hiring a Raleigh-Durham contractor for your home addition project (it will help, we promise!). Or click HERE to simply see our suggestions and contact information for 7 of the top Raleigh-Durham home addition companies

So, you want more room but you love your house? Many Raleigh-Durham residents with this problem choose to build additions to their homes instead of purchasing new ones.

Hiring a Raleigh-Durham builder or general contractor to complete your home addition is not always an easy task. There are several factors that make the decision tough.

First, there are many people out there who call themselves General Contractors, Builders, and Construction Companies. Look under 'Builders' or 'Contractors' in the Raleigh, Durham, Cary, or Chapel Hill phone books and you will see what we mean…there are tons of professionals listed in each area. Also, there are unadvertised pros that are out dropping business cards and trying to get customers to hire them to do their home additions. Many times these are individuals who work at various other construction jobs, but offer their services to do home additions on the side.

Second, there is significant cost involved with a house addition. You are talking about substantial risk when you hire a pro to build your home addition, so there is extra pressure to make sure you hire the right company.

Finally, adding a home addition is a large and complicated project. Therefore, the variation and range of the bids companies submit can be large. You could see estimates that vary by as much as $10,000-$30,000 (or even more) depending on the job.

So what do you do when looking for a professional to build your home addition in the Raleigh-Durham, NC and surrounding areas?

We recommend:

• Asking your friends and neighbors to see if they have had good or bad experiences with any Raleigh-Durham home addition contractors. Simply knowing that another person has had a good experience with a builder prior to calling them lessens your chance of hiring a problem. The Super 7 can help you find good references for contractors.

• If you have the time, call a few contractors to look at your house and give you an estimate on an addition. This will help you determine fair market price for your job. This does not mean you should always go with the lowest price, you should go with the company you feel most comfortable with and who you feel will do the best job. If an individual is offering a real low price you should ask yourself "why?".

• If you don't have the time, we suggest using The Super 7 to locate the one Raleigh-Durhamhome addition contractor you want to meet first. We have a list of home addition pros that appear to meet our standards to be considered quality professionals. In fact our "Certified Super" listed companies have proven that they do! We also require customers to voice their experience about house addition contractors to help ensure that they meet your needs.

• Determine what it is you want your home addition to be. Is it a new bedroom, a new family room, or a finished basement? Have a general idea of what you want and what you can afford before calling a pro.

• Many people will convince you that, because you have increased your home's value, you will get the money spent on a home addition back when it comes time to sell your house. This may be true...but be cautious. A large addition may price your house out of your neighborhood. This means you may not be able to list your house for the price increase you want because it makes your house way more expensive then the ones in your neighborhood. You need to determine if your addition is a good financial move, or if it would be better to simply move into a bigger house. A Raleigh-Durham real estate agent can help you determine this.

• Depending on the size of your home addition you may need to talk to an architect or structural engineer to decide if you need plans drawn up, or if your existing house can structurally handle the addition you want to build. Your contractor should be able to help determine the need for this help.

• If you are building second story additions over existing areas of the house it is highly recommended that you seek out a structural engineer to determine if this is possible.

• If your Raleigh-Durham home addition is going to cost over $30,000 then you must use a licensed general contractor. You can use this site to determine if your contractor is licensed: www.contractors-license.org (Note: Follow the site's exact search directions to locate your professional. These sites can sometimes have errors, so if you don't see you pro's name listed be sure to ask for proof of licensing before writing them off. If they aren't listed and they are not producing documentation then be wary!)

• Make sure the company or individual is bonded and has insurance. You could be held liable for a worker's injury at your house. Also, if a mistake was made on your addition and your house is now a disaster you need to be sure that the contractor has the available insurance to pay for the damage repair. That is why insurance and bonding is so important. As mentioned above there are many fly-by-night contractors that may not be insured. Ask them for proof of insurance before they start your home addition.

• Be very specific in regard to communicating what you want your home addition to be. In order for the company to provide you with an accurate estimate you need to be clear with your expectations. Do you want high end materials, crown molding, and granite countertops? This will all affect price.

• If your job is large, make sure you determine a payment schedule upfront. Click here for additional info on paying a contractor.

• Always get a statement of work to be performed in writing. Keep this filed away. Make sure the statements clearly describe what work is to be completed.

• Ask if the home addition work comes with guarantees. Make sure you get these things in writing. These are all factors to weigh when looking at the total estimates left by different Raleigh-Durham home addition contractors.

• Check in on your home addition progress regularly…try to catch potential problems or misunderstandings early so that the situation can be corrected.

• If the contractor that does your home addition does a great job tell them you will recommend them on The Super 7.

• If they don't do a good job ask them to fix the issue or you will let other Raleigh-Durham residents know about their poor performance on The Super 7 website!


Good luck with building your Raleigh-Durham home addition!

The Super 7 provides 7 quality professional contractors for your home addition in the Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Chapel Hill and surrounding areas. Click here for our list of Super 7 Raleigh-Durham Home Addition Pros!


More helpful short articles to help with your home addition needs:
Things to Help You Prepare For a Home Addition
General Suggestions for Hiring Raleigh-Durham Contractors
Paying Your Raleigh-Durham Contractor
How to Avoid Hiring Bad Contractors
How Contractor Pricing Relates to Satisfaction
Finding and Using the Proper Contractor References

ADDITIONS BATHROOM REMODEL ELECTRICIANS HANDYMAN HEAT & AIR KITCHEN REMODEL LANDSCAPE CONTRACTORS PAINTERS PLUMBING SIDING MORE