General Contractors Keep You Out of The Money Pit

Congratulations on buying a new-to-you house! It has such great bone structure, as they say. It will be absolutely amazing once you've done a full renovation. All you need now is a plumber and an electrician and, um, a guy to put up new sheetrock and probably some permits. Stumped on what exactly you need and whom on earth you'll find to do it? General contractors exist to help turn the house you have been dreaming of owning into your actual dream house.

Of the many cinematic examples of disastrous attempts to renovate splendid but decrepit houses, few come close to the melodramatic catastrophe of The Money Pit. Among other grand lessons to be learned from this old gem of a comedy is the following simple, true thing: very good general contractors are worth their weight in platinum. They can be the saviors of home renovation and reconstruction. Failing to hire one, or the right one, is a first skid on the slippery slope to structural ruin. Yes, financial ruin comes close on the heels of literal household collapse. Both can be avoided by hiring the right guy.

Your house does not, under any circumstances, have to cause the crushing adversity or personal calamity of the grand estate in The Money Pit. Your house will, in fact, find its way to the glorious success in home renovation that evolves throughout Under the Tuscan Sun. As the myriad array of general contractors comes through to assess her impulsively purchased Italian villa, our American heroine, Frances, evaluates each and makes the right choice. As a result, she gains much more than simple, transactional relationships with the men who spend months recreating her house and making it her home.

In selecting the person who will arrange for all the work that is to be done, the protagonist recognizes that the scope of a large home project will bring the master planner and those he hires into her living space every day for an extended period of time. Sharing the development of a home with those who will make it happen requires the sharing of space as well as vision. Frances gains partners in the emergence of a beautiful, fully functional home of her own. You need to find the same as you begin to do the same.

General contractors are there to hammer out the details. They know what needs to be done. They know who to call. They know which vendors to use. They know all of the things that you need them to know. They make the right things happen in the right order. They are ready, willing, and able to guide what feels like your ship of fools until you reach azure, Caribbean waters and discover that you have been on a luxury yacht all along.