Ask HN: Owner's representative services for home owners
Even with your due diligence, you are still nervous. Not being from a construction or technical background, you have no way of knowing whether the work is being performed as quoted (contractor swapping for low quality materials) or whether the work is even being done correctly (incompetent crew sent to your house).
There is a 3rd party service who provides an industry knowledgeable person to act as your representative. This person reviews the quote, makes sure pricing is inline, and holds the construction crew accountable for their work.
Is this a service that would interest you?
Background: I worked in air conditioning for 7 years, another 8 in industrial construction and commissioning.
I was recently quoted to have my air conditioner’s evaporator coil chemically cleaned and the crew came out to perform the work. The quote included cutting a hole in the ceiling to get access to the coil and then cleaning the coil. The crew that was sent out did not cut a hole in the ceiling and attempted to clean the coil with a vacuum cleaner. After fumbling around in the ceiling for an hour, they packed their tools and asked me to sign the invoice - with still the same pricing as cutting a hole and chemically cleaning. Being familiar with the business, it was clear they were lying to me and I refused to sign the invoice. I spoke with the owner of the company who sent out another crew and the work was done properly. I can’t help but think how many people get scammed by contractors on a daily basis.
Commercial and Industrial construction routinely has owner’s representatives to act and supervise on the owner’s behalf. The issue is partially addressed this with permitted construction. Your town/city/council will review plans and send out an inspector to verify work was done to code. Day to day service work is rarely permitted so things fall through the gaps.