Preservation Contractors Lessons for Avoiding Regret

What to take away

Preservation contractors lessons: the most common regrets are rarely about dishonesty. They are about mismatch: between specialty and task, between promise and crew, between expectation and process. Every one of them is visible before signing, if you ask about it.

Hiring the wrong specialty

A capable general contractor is not a plasterer, and a good plasterer is not a mason. Owners hire the firm they liked rather than the trade the job needs, and then discover the specialty work has been subcontracted to whoever was available.

Ask directly which parts will be subcontracted and to whom, then check those firms as carefully as the main one. You are hiring both. Grouping the work by trade before you call also makes a small job worth a specialist's trip.

The test is simple enough to apply on a first phone call. Name the single most specialized item in your scope and ask who will personally do it. A firm that answers with a name and a background is a different proposition from one that answers that they will find somebody. The federal historic tax-credit program does not certify contractors; its certification applies to qualifying historic properties and rehabilitation work, not the contractor.

Assuming the estimator will be on site

The person who walks your house, discusses method knowledgeably and writes the proposal is often not the person holding the tools. That is normal in any trade. It becomes a regret when nobody establishes who supervises, how often, and what happens when the crew hits something unexpected.

Write supervision into the contract: who the site lead is, how often the principal visits, and who you call when a decision is needed that day. Method belongs in the same clause, since a verbal agreement about method is worth nothing once a crew is on site.

Consultants without process experience

If your project involves formal review, identify which one before hiring. For federal historic rehabilitation tax credits, the National Park Service (NPS) administers the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives program with State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs). The program applies to income-producing properties; a qualifying building must be listed in the National Register of Historic Places or contribute to a registered historic district, and the rehabilitation must meet the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. The NPS application uses Part 1, Evaluation of Significance; Part 2, Description of Rehabilitation; and Part 3, Request for Certification of Completed Work. NPS Technical Preservation Services provides application guidance and training for consultants and architects. Ask which review your project needs and who will prepare its forms.

Ask how many federal Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 applications the consultant has handled, whether NPS approved them, and what happened to any that were not. Ask about their experience applying the Standards to work like yours; familiarity with another state or local review is not a substitute.

Not knowing what recourse exists

A denial or an adverse decision feels final and often is not. For the federal historic tax-credit program, an owner may appeal a denial in writing within thirty days of receiving it under 36 CFR Part 67. The appeal goes to the National Park Service and may include additional information. Confirm the deadline and recipient in the denial notice; state and local processes have their own rules.

Ask what the appeal path is before you need it, and make sure your consultant knows it.

Regrets ranked

For a separate list of trades to help identify the right specialist, see the nineteen preservation specialties.

Common questions