Episode 43 Being your own General Contractor
Paul talks with Cooper who is thinking about acting as his own general contractor on his kitchen renovation. Paul recommends hiring a general contractor and putting in a new longer beam across the load bearing section of his kitchen and removing the pantry walls. He also advises not hiring the cabinet supplier to install the cabinets. The company getting the room ready for cabinets and running the plumbing, electric, and doing other renovations should ideally also be responsible for installing the cabinets. Otherwise “the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing”, and in keeping with that metaphor – a lot of finger pointing may ensue. 🙂
Cooper’s kitchen below
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Paul
Paul’s bio from the magazine Kitchen and Bath Design News:
Paul McAlary possesses a voice that resonates far beyond the boundaries of Philadelphia’s western suburbs and the city’s prestigious Main Line – the location of his well-established Delaware Valley design firm.
McAlary, president and senior designer of Bala Cynwyd, PA-based Main Line Kitchen Design, is an internationally recognized kitchen design authority who has won more than a dozen local and national design awards, including being named a 2017 Viking Appliances Designer of Distinction.
Beyond his achievements as a designer, McAlary has also forged a burgeoning reputation as the creative force behind the “Main Line Kitchen Design Blog,” a unique online forum and social media resource that is read by more than 40,000 people each month and has been honored as one of the top kitchen design blogs in the world. Main Line Kitchen Design’s videos and blogs address a wide range of kitchen/bath-related topics aimed at sparking a constructive exchange of ideas among both consumers and design professionals.
McAlary, whose kitchens and comments often appear in trade magazines and on social media sites, is sometimes at odds with the kitchen design establishment, but he maintains a distinct sense of humor and is known as a fierce advocate for design standards, ethics and transparency in the kitchen design trade.
Subscribe to Main Line Kitchen Design’s Blogs and podcasts here.
