Extending screen enclosures is confusing. There is no ‘black and white’ to them – each extension is unique to the circumstances. Seeing as we are not working with a ‘clean slate’, they are far more confusing than just building a new one. Besides the intended size and shape of the proposed extension, we need to consider the condition and capacity of the original structure we are adjoining to, and your desired out come (posts and cross beams where they connect).
For those reasons, the process of getting an extension requires a bit more pre-planning and should be managed accordingly for an optimal outcome. It starts with engineering. Getting the engineering done first ensures a few things:
- Takes The Reigns Away From A Sales Person And Puts You In Control. Relying on ‘sales people’ from bidding companies, is a poor way to plan a project of this scope. While they do want to work towards what’s best for you, they are slightly biased towards the companies ‘ideal project’, the bottom line numbers and what they can ‘sell’ you on. That’s why engineers and architects exist. Having an unbiased 3rd party, detail the scope of work that you want frees you from getting roped into sales words.
- Allows You To Compare Apples To Apples. When you’re planning a screen enclosure extension like this and talking to multiple contractors, how do you even know they’re all building to the exact same spec? Contractor A might be bidding to one spec at $14,000, while contractor B has a bid for $11,000 but is leaving out key details that an untrained eye would overlook. Until you have engineered plans detailing the specifics, you have no way of being certain specifically what each project bid entails. Having it laid out in black and white, insures that all bidders on the same page.
- Prevents Mis-communication. If you’ve ever embarked on a home improvement project, you know how crucial communication is. On a project like this, with many variables, a little miscommunication can be the result between on a positive and negative outcome. In my experience, the miscommunication starts usually starts up front during the bidding process. The homeowner has one idea, but it gets lost in words right from the get go. Having the structure engineered and detailed out beforehand prevents this.
- Prevents hidden surprises. When projects aren’t planned properly hidden surprises often come up. With extensions the most common hidden surprise is the need to bring up the rest of the structure to code compliance. A close second is the need for a separate project to remove posts and/or cross members where to structures adjoin. In-experienced contractors, might unknowingly leave this out, while others might intentionally leave this out to lower the bid. In the end you’re stuck with an open permit, or unusable extension until you spend a bit more money.
- You get the best prices. Ah the big one. Here’s a little secret, when reputable contractors go into a project without plans, we budget a fair bit for ‘variables’. Surprises, miscommunication, or unknown factors. This way, no matter what does (and will) come up, we can absorb the cost and go on. When the project is pre-engineered, we can really sharpen the pencil as we no longer need to budget for ‘variables’.
House flippers, developers and general contractors know this, and for these reasons always have the plans drawn up before sending them out to us to bid. Now you know it! We are available to do the engineering for most structures $500. Afterwards, you are free to use the prints to get bids with whomever you’d like.
