[Baz]

Steph,

My two farthings worth:

1) Good that you have specifications and plans to get bids on. If getting more than one quote - this ensures they are all apples to apples. Make sure your architect goes over the bids after you receive them and provides input as to whose bid looks best. The lowest bid is not always the best contractor to use, obviously.

2) You got some recommendations from the architect. That's good. You may need some more. You may want to visit city hall and talk to some of the inspectors and ask if they could provide some unofficial feedback on who does good work. Whoever wishes to submit a quote should have references. They may even have letters of reference or what I call testimonial letters. Either way - before making a decision on who to use, I would talk to a couple/few of their previous clients - preferably fairly recent ones - not from over 3 years ago.

3) Sometimes on projects that involve stages or phases it makes sense to set up a payment plan based on stages of completion. As a landscaper, I do this on my larger projects. It helps with cash flow for the contractor but also protects the client from getting hosed by the ones who disappear the moment they get a little coin in their pocket.

4) If at all possible, make sure both yourself and the contractor has a clear understanding of project timeline and deadline, if any. Most competent contractors will know this and be able to give you an estimated completion date. The good ones leave themselves extra time so they don't get caught by unexpected delays beyond their control (weather, busy subs, material delays, equipment breakdown, etc.). This means they under-promise and over-deliver.

5) The only other advice I have is to try ahead of time to figure out as much of the detail you want for your project - stuff like paint colors, any fancy embellishment/trim, etc., extra electrical wiring, plumbing (hose bibs), material aspects, etc etc.

I'm sure you are already aware of much of what I wrote but if not I hope this helped.

Overall - you need someone who has recent positive references - that's a huge factor in the project being a success.

Good luck and I hope you will post some pics along the way - sounds like a cool project!