1.) Licenses: Even though a contractor is licensed in your state, he may not have the appropriate licenses in your city/county. Ask him specificially. Probably also a good idea to call your city/county, and ask what licenses are required

2.) Permits: Don't just ask your contractor about what permits are required for your work. Call and ask your city/county. Ask your contractor if he's ever pulled a permit in your c/c. Our contractor told us we didn't need a permit to do minor alterations to a load-bearing wall. (When we asked him how hard/expensive it would be to widen an existing window by about 6 inches or so to turn it into a passthrough to our bumpout den.) Then, when we found out we did, he told us that we'd have to pull the permit because "your county hassles contractors when they try to pull a permit." (uh, what?) Turns out, he didn't want to get the permit, because he didn't have the right licenses to get one in our county. Yes, we discovered this after the subs botched the job and our ceiling started falling. We checked his state license, but did not know about the c/c license requirements.

3.) Estimates and defining the job: One of the first signs of trouble with our contractor was that he sent out a team to do our estimates after we sent him our homemade IKEA design files. Then a week later, he sent a proposal, which was missing several key details. When we pointed it out, he said that the project manager had only 2 days at that job, and he'd send him out to do it again. When we said we'd prefer to have someone more experienced do the job, he said that the person doing the work was very experienced, so not to worry. (We should have worried.) Although it seems minor, confusion on the "business end" of the project was frustrating-- delays in getting estimates, trouble getting estimates broken out in the way we asked, documentation that was not detailed enough. At some point we just gave up on that, and said, "oh, well, I'm sure they're good at the actual kitchen installing." We should have persisted in getting the exact documentation we wanted. (We also learned the hard way: probably a good idea to specify that "all work be done in compliance with existing codes" -- we took that part for granted, and shouldn't have.)

4.) Timeline: we were so blinded by the quick turnaround time for the contractor, and felt so pressured to get everything done, that we overlooked things (such as above), that we should have been more careful about.

5.) Get it all in writing: We did a pretty good job of making sure that we communicated via email. This saved us when our ceiling started to collapse. Contractor: "I didn't know that was a load bearing wall." us: "We told the subcontractors that in every conversation." Him: "Well, I guess they didn't tell me." Us: "We also have it in email X, Y, and Z that you used for the estimates." Him: "Wow, you're right, I don't know how I could have missed it. I'll send someone over to fix it right away."

6.) Subcontractor Qualifications: We made the mistake of thinking that because our GC was well-recommended, and had a lot of good references, that his subs were well-vetted and qualified. Figure out what type of jobs you'll need to have done on your project (electrical? plumbing? structural?) and make sure you confirm in writing with your GC that the subs he sends to do the work are qualified/appropriately licensed. When our ceiling fell down, the sub told us repeatedly that it wasn't a problem, that he did this sort of thing all the time-- turned out our house was quite literally falling down because he'd cut support studs without replacing them. (Again, something we should have gotten in writing, because when we went over with him how he'd handle the project, he said, "for a load bearing wall, we'd put in a temporary brace, then put in a new header to match the wider opening." What he actually did was just cut the supports and patch over it.) Later that day, we discovered that all the electrical work that sub did had to be ripped out, because his "electrician" had no concept of the codes in our county, so nothing was up to code. We were really lucky that the GC sent someone else out that day-- but it took him 4 days, including working over what was SUPPOSED to be our vacation weekend to rip it out and redo it. If we'd asked, "Exactly who is doing the electrical work, and can we see his license/certification?" it would have pre-empted this problem.

7.) Get it in writing, part b: We'd asked repeatedly for a "parts list" so we'd know what to order ahead of time to keep the team running smoothly, and to simplify our IKEA order. After 4 or 5 written requests and as many verbal requests, we decided we couldn't wait any more, and went to IKEA to try our luck there. 6 trips later, we're kicking ourselves. In actuality, when we sat down with the kitchen designer, we came up with an accurate list of parts. However, when she typed it into the computer, some pieces were left off. If we'd had the master list to compare to, we'd have caught it immediately. Instead, it took multiple reorders and backorders (well, you know the IKEA drill) and an emergency trip to Baltimore at the last possible minute to get the drawer partition that got left off the SECOND attempt to order the corner cabinet.

8.)Don't be afraid to micromanage: I left for work one day, thinking, "Perhaps I should remind them to mix the paint cans together before painting the kitchen. Nah... that's way too controlling. That's totally obvious. It'll be fine." I came back to a room that was half mint-green and half lime green. Because yes, they'd opened one can of paint, used it to the end, then opened the next. (A glitch in tweaking the custom-mixed paint left the colors more different than usual.)

9.)Responsibility: Our GC was very responsive and took full accountability when we told him about the problems we'd had with the work. HOWEVER, if we knew then what we know now? We'd have looked for someone who vetted his subcontractors more carefully, and had the business end of the work more tightly under control.