I came onto this thread after the main discussion, and have a couple of remarks.

Barry: please use a few paragraph breaks next time!

Kat, I did exactly what you were asking about, but I had the advantage of knowing a fellow, a man who did several contracting jobs for a friend of mine. I was so impressed with his work that when I got ready to go house shopping I called him and asked if he would look at any I was considering if I thought I'd like to buy it and make some changes. It took a little negotiating, and at first I paid him a flat fee to cover gas and an hour's time when he came over, but he figured out quickly that I was serious, and when I found the house I wanted he was a huge help from the very beginning.

I sat down with a little CAD program (3D Home Architect) and worked out how I might possibly want the layout of the space in the existing garage to look when we converted it to rooms. He was a huge help as I roughed it out and he pointed out existing elements for consideration--the placement of a window, of the pulldown stairs to the attic, etc.

We worked with the city in getting all of our permits and calling for inspections. And because I was converting the garage and planned to build a new one, we ended up doing both things at once. The city didn't want the one garage converted and then my pooping out and not building the new one (the code says there must be covered parking for at least two vehicles). Made for a little juggling, but we were green tags all the way through.

Rob knew various sub-contractors he'd worked with and he would get bids on jobs (roofing the new garage, putting insulation in the attic in the house, putting in two new heat pumps to replace an old almost dead air conditioner), electricians, and concrete for the new garage and extended driveway. I made the decisions to go with his folks or not, and as I saw that his folks were good I was comfortable in going with the ones he recommended. I gave him X amount of cash, and as he drew it down I gave him more. I have all of the papers showing all of the expenses. I was working at home a lot those days (telecommuting) and regularly he would come and say "I need something from Home Depot, and I can go get it, but if I stay here and work and YOU go get it, I can finish this faster and it will cost you less." And most of the time that worked fine for me also. We'd be working to finish something before a rain storm or other event halted our work. There were a couple of times when he had to stop work for a few days because he had another contract and was overseeing painters, but that was okay, and usually his folks working at my place could keep doing something they'd been fully briefed on.

The most expensive of his contractors was the electrician, and I had several people offer bids and went with his guys because they cost the same as the other and I figured they'd be good because they were all friends. Rob doesn't suffer fools gladly, a good feature in a contractor. The moment you touch a remodeling project you have to bring the electrical up to code. I had to pull the breaker box and go from 150 amp to 225, and raise the weatherhead (the thing that the wires run to from the pole out behind the house) and put in a few gfci receptacles and smoke detector in the office/bedroom I hadn't initially planned for. These were code but they also make a lot of sense. As contractors but also nice human beings they were very thoughtful, and would ask me if I thought I'd like this or that or the other thing regarding switch placement or the centering of lights over counters, etc. They understand that tweaking has to happen in a plan and better to ask before something is rendered than find out later that it isn't really what you want.

There were times when Rob thought of things that we hadn't discussed and made the executive decision to go ahead if I wasn't there, because they were small and the opportunity was present (concrete truck was there now, for example) that were exactly the right move and I'm so glad he was thoughtful in what he was doing. Adjacent to the house in back he put in a short concrete sidewalk from my patio to the newly-extended driveway, and a step into the house at the new side door, because he realized we would need them and it was a small thing to do if it was done right then.

I realize I was extremely fortunate in my choice of contractor, and it all boiled down to choosing someone whose work I'd seen and admired over the years. Now that you've put the matter off for a while, you have the best opportunity to choose a contractor for the future. As people get work done around you, go take a look, talk the the homeowner and find out how happy they are with the work, talk to the contractor, and get a business card from them. Keeping this in the back of your mind means that when the time comes it may be a simple matter to start the ball rolling.

SRS