FAQ

Aaron & Co does provide homeowners with a free consultation where we discuss your needs, desires and often your budget.

Incorporated in 2006, Aaron & Co has been serving the Tucson community for many years and intends to be here for many years to come.

Aaron & Co is licensed as a general contractor for residential and commercial remodeling projects. We carry $1,000,000 of general liability insurance and workers’ compensation insurance. Additionally, all of our trade contractors are required to carry these same insurances.

Aaron & Co provides a two-year limited warranty on all work we perform. You will also receive various manufacturers’ warranties on the products used on your job.

We work with clients throughout the Tucson Area, Oro Valley, Catalina Foothills and Dove Mountain.

You can expect your home to be kept secure throughout the project and broom cleaned every day at the end of the day. We make every attempt to limit the flow of dust to our specific work area.

Our scope of work includes everything from small home improvement projects and kitchens renovations to whole house remodels and room additions. We also frequently do bathroom updates, cabinet installations and general face-lifts.

Absolutely! We work from a detailed scope of work that clearly defines the plan for your individual project. We also keep our clients informed throughout the remodel process through the use of digital photography and weekly phone calls.

It depends on three things: the extent of the work to be performed, the size of your home and whether or not there is sufficient space to provide safety and comfort during the remodel process, and lastly your tolerance for the intrusive nature of having work done within your living space. We do all we can to manage the remodeling activities, but day-to-day living activities are affected.

Each consultation is based on individual needs. However, our typical initial consultation will last about an hour and will generally be held at the home that is to be remodeled.

In our experience, it is a rare day when a client knows what their envisioned remodeling may cost. What works the best are open discussions. It is safe to say remodeling almost always costs more than you think. Early in the design process, we will provide you with a ballpark range for the work you are planning.

Absolutely. Our remodeling structures provide our clients and their outside design professionals with a non-competitive design process that fulfills your plans through your designer’s specifications.

At Aaron & Co, everything is under one roof, so there’s no wasted time. This includes acquiring building permits and working through the homeowner’s association approval processes. No matter what other situations arise during a remodel project, Aaron & Co will handle them all quickly and to your satisfaction.

No. We perform many small projects that are simple and quick enough that a basic scope of work will suffice.

This depends on what is necessary. We charge our clients only for the portion of the construction drawings that are required. For example, a simple kitchen remodel may require design work, a floor plan, and elevations. You would be charged for these services only, but not for any additional items that might typically go in a set of construction drawings like electrical, plumbing, and mechanicals plans.

Unfortunately for liability reasons, we are not allowed to have anyone perform work on our projects from when we begin to when we are complete with our scope of work. You are welcome to perform any work you’d like before or after our work though. For instance – a client might wish to do his/her own demolition prior to Aaron & Co’s starting the project. He/she might want to do all the painting after Aaron & Co has completed the services for which we were contracted. We would happy to discuss other types of client involvement on a case-by-case basis.

Most products – like windows, doors, siding, cabinetry, countertops, fittings & fixtures – are intrinsically linked with the building process. Order accuracy & timeliness, quality shipping, and order completion all play into our ability to ensure a smoothly run project for which we take total responsibility. With few exceptions, it is important to our process that Aaron & Co provides most of the products.

We have all heard remodeling horror stories. Aaron & Co is out to alter peoples’ perceptions of home remodeling. We believe a contractor should be judged not only on their finished product, but on their performance during the entire design and build process.

Our attention to detail ensures our clients are comfortable and involved from the start. Aaron & Co‘s commitment to your quality of life is just as important as our unique, award-winning designs. We cater to the homeowner who values both.

Schedules will vary. During the initial consultation, we will be able to provide to you an approximate duration of your project and possible start dates.

Absolutely! Prior to construction, you will receive a schedule that outlines the beginning and end dates, along with events along the way.

We always work for a fixed price that will only be altered if there are change orders. The payment schedules vary dependent upon the amount of special-order products involved in your project, but typically we collect 15% of the contract sum at the time of signing the contract, 20% at the start of work, and then the remaining based on the amount of work completed at certain billing intervals (weekly, bi-weekly, etc.) There is always a balance that you hold on to until you are completely satisfied with out work.

After the design process is complete, clients sometimes feel the budget required to accomplish what they have designed is higher than they are comfortable investing. This is a natural part of the process, and we work with clients to achieve a balance between their vision and possibilities. At this time, we begin the development of a construction document, which includes offering suggestions in each area of the project to help bring the budget back into line. Does that mean that we lower our prices simply because we are asked to? No, it does not. Because we absolutely believe in fair and honest pricing, our pricing is commensurate with the scope of work and project details our clients select. This is what we can promise.

Purchasing a design/build project is more like buying a car than a list of groceries. When you buy a car, the base price includes everything you need to be able to drive it off the lot and operate it safely. You do not have separate prices for the engine, the rearview mirror, the windshield, etc. You may, however, select “packages” to upgrade the vehicle in a variety of ways – special rims, sound systems, leather trim, etc. We handle the design of our clients’ projects much the same way. If we’re developing a kitchen project, we will come back to the client with a base price for the kitchen – all the demolition, rubbish removal, framing, plumbing, electrical work, HVAC work, insulation, sheetrock, flooring, cabinetry, and countertops (the list goes on) required to create a beautiful, functional kitchen that will meet the needs identified by the client during the goals assessment. Then, if our clients want to know, “How much more would it be if we wanted cherry cabinets instead of maple?” or “How much would we save if we don’t replace the window?” – those options are priced out as upgrades and/or savings options.

We have set our pricing formulas and manage our overhead so that we can produce a 9% net pretax profit, which is used to grow the company.

There are three circumstances under which a client may end up paying more for their project than is listed in their contract:

• The single biggest contributor to projects costing more than originally anticipated is client-driven change orders. “While they’re here, maybe we should have them change out that window in the bathroom…” We get a lot of those.
• Unforeseen conditions. Sadly, we do not have x-ray vision. Until a space is gutted open, we cannot know about the rotted sill or the termite infestation or the improperly vented drain-line. When we discover those things, it is our legal obligation to bring them to the attention of our clients. If additional work is needed to correct the situation, a change order will be written and presented to the client for consideration before proceeding.
• “Escalation” refers to a sudden, unforeseeable, and dramatic increase in the cost of a commodity-type product due to circumstances beyond our control. Such occurrences are rare but well documented. For instance, a few years ago, the cost of plywood doubled in the space of a few days due to Hurricane Katrina. Under such circumstances, we are forced to share the burden of the added expense with our clients.

With the exception of the aforementioned items, Aaron & Co fervently holds to its quoted pricing and assumes responsibility for an accurate and thoughtful assessment of every project from its inception to its completion.

Every year, a variety of construction-oriented periodicals publish the per-square-foot price of building a new home of a specific caliber in a specific region. With prices ranging from $200–$500 per square foot, it’s easy for the owners of existing homes to translate that equation to their own remodeling job and think, “Well, my bathroom is only 35 square feet, so that means I should be able to remodel it for between $7,000 and $17,500!” In point of fact, per-square-foot pricing is not a relevant benchmark for remodeling because it does not take three very important factors into consideration:

• Demolition – not necessary in new construction – costs money. Before beginning the project, the existing space must be stripped of all the fittings, fixtures, sheetrock, insulation, flooring, etc. Those materials must then be removed from the home (taking care not to dirty or damage the walls and floors of adjacent, uninvolved rooms) and disposed of.
• Old Work – Tying in to old work is more labor-intensive than installing all new work. Imagine an electrician installing recessed lights in a house that is currently under construction – all of the joists are visible and wiring is simply stapled up in clean straight runs to the electrical panel which is completely accessible. Compare this to installing the same lights in a pre-existing, plastered ceiling – to place a light, a hole is cut in the plaster. If a joist is revealed, a new hole must be cut and the other hole patched over. Wires must be “fished” across closed ceilings and down sheetrock walls to reach the electrical panel. This comparison holds true for almost every phase of a remodeling project from excavation to pouring a foundation to framing to flooring to painting.
• Pricing Averages – In new construction, the big-ticket items like plumbing and electrical are averaged over the square footage of the entire house. The plumbing for a kitchen and two and a half bathrooms is very expensive but is averaged over 2500 square feet. When a home is being remodeled, that same work is often averaged over only a tenth of the square footage.