Save Money on Contractor's Estimate with Sweat Equity

One oft-mentioned bit of advice to save money on home renovation: pitch in a hand and use sweat equity. The general theory being that you take on some of the expensive work yourself, saving not only on hard subcontractor costs but more importantly saving on the contractor's added 18-25% commission.

Great idea. But nobody ever tells you how to work this out with the contractor. Because the potential cost savings are so huge, it's definitely worth doing this.

1. Understand that You May Incur the Contractor's Displeasure

Go into this sweat equity chore with the understanding that you may rankle the contractor. The main reason, of course, is that by lowering the cost of the work, you're also lowering his commission. Another reason: professionals often find it rather amusing when amateurs think they're qualified to do the work of these trained, skilled pros. Which is a good reason to keep in mind the following...

2. Be Certain That You Can Do the Work

If only to save face, you'll have to be one hundred percent certain you can do this work. Because...

3. You Don't Want to Stall the Project

The contractor probably has subs tightly scheduled before and after your intended sweat equity task. If you run over schedule, you'll screw up the entire process.

4. Take on Grunt Work--Unless You Are Highly Skilled

Unless you are an actual electrician, plumber, carpenter, or one of the other skilled trades, don't use this as an opportunity to learn these trades. Instead, take on grunt work like demolition, earth moving, digging, etc.

5. Approach Contractor After Estimates

It might seem best to tell the contractor as early as possible that you intend to use sweat equity. But it's to your advantage to bring up the subject only after you've gotten numbers. The reason is, you want solid evidence that your sweat equity will knock down the price. Approach the contractor too early on, and in their zeal to keep their commission high they may simply jack up other parts of the estimate.