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Intro
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[Music] hey everyone this is James here with RTA outdoor living and today I am talking about a very important topic we are talking about vetting who you hire for your outdoor kitchen project this video will be focused specifically on contractors as there are a good amount
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of people that consider going with a local contractor for their project we speak from personal experience in this realm as I have personally worked with and consulted hundreds of contractors on outdoor kitchen design and construction over the past 10 years and a few of our
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team members are even former contractors themselves there are many great contractors out there who are qualified to take on an outdoor kitchen project but in our experience there are some things you should be cautious of before hiring a contractor the purpose of this
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video is to help you properly discern between the good contractors out there and the ones that might not be qualified to build an outdoor kitchen for you we are going to lay out the 10 tips that you can use to properly vet a contractor let’s get right into it this is a pretty
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BUSINESS INFO
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basic step but you want to ensure that the contractor is reliable first you will want to start by verifying that their company is licensed and insured being licensed and insured will give you the peace of mind that they have gone through the proper channels to prove
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work ethic and quality of results 43% of contractors fail within the first three 3 years of starting their business and although there are different factors that come into play here it is often due to lack of experience or poor quality of
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OUTDOOR KITCHEN
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work this is an extremely important thing to consider because believe it or not there are very few contractors out there that have true outdoor kitchen experience there are a lot of contractors that will take on outdoor kitchens because it might be part of a
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bigger project and they are asked to build the outdoor kitchen along with the pool or patio just because a contractor could build an kitchen doesn’t mean they necessarily specialize in this area and that might lead to you hiring a generalist instead of a specialist we
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understand that it might be convenient to just hire the same contractor that is doing the rest of the work at your house but if they don’t truly specialize an outdoor kitchen construction it might end up leaving you with an end product that you are not fully satisfied with or
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worse in end product that isn’t even constructed properly there are many details to an outdoor kitchen project and some someone that is not necessarily familiar with all the nuances involved in outdoor kitchen construction might struggle to deliver you the results you
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are truly after at the end of the day you signed up for someone to take care of the project for you and make it as hassle-free as possible not for someone to be learning on the job which can lead to added headaches and added stress we would recommend asking these three
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questions if you want to gauge their experience number one ask them how many outdoor kitchens have they installed since since being in business number two ask how many outdoor kitchens they installed last year and the third and final question ask do they have pictures
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of finished outdoor kitchens that they’ve done in the [Music] past reviews are really the true
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REVIEWS
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Testament of their work so we would highly recommend looking into the reviews from their past customers this is a step most take when doing their due diligence on a Home Improvement project we would highly recommend taking it a step further and not just looking into
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their reviews but you should be looking for reviews that specifically talk about outdoor kitchen projects sure it is valuable to know what the general reviews are of the company but a review about a landscape or patio project doesn’t give you too much Insight on
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whether they do a good job on outdoor kitchen projects if they don’t have any reviews that are specific to outdoor kitchen projects that doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t do a good job but it sure does sound like a gamble that you might not want to get yourself
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into to construction methods and
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CONSTRUCTION
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materials play such a pivotal role in the longevity of your outdoor kitchen so it is important to understand what your contractor plans to use for your project if you are not familiar with what materials are recommended for outdoor kitchen construction you can check out
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our materials video at the link below this video the main thing here is to understand what the contractor proposes building your Island Adam we would recommend asking the contractor what materials they will use for the island structure and countertops and why if
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they aren’t able to give you a thorough explanation of why they are using the materials they are using they may just be going with whatever is readily available or just materials they are most familiar with which could speak to their lack of experience you ultimately
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want to make sure they are using high quality materials that are engineered for the environment that you live in
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VENTILATION
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ventilation and safety really ties back to the contractor’s experience with constructing outdoor kitchens appliances have different ventilation requirements and the ventilation requirements can vary depending on where the island is located if these requirements aren’t
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followed your Island could be unsafe to use going back to materials if your contractor is using combustible materials you will want to ensure they are taking the proper precautions like incorporating an insulated jacket for your grill so that your Island isn’t a
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fire hazard ventilation is important in the case of a gas leak so the gas gas doesn’t actually build up inside the island if you’re using propane appliances propane is a heavier gas that will sink so you will have to have your vents towards the bottom of your Island
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and if you’re using natural gas natural gas Rises so you will want the vents towards the top of the island this is an incredibly important thing to make sure they get right we have heard horror stories of islands that have caught fire and even exploded fortunately in those
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scenarios no one was seriously injured but you really don’t want to take any chances when it comes to something you and your family are going to be using you can ask the contractor these two questions number one are they using combustible materials to construct your
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Island if they are ask what precautions are being taken to ensure the materials won’t catch fire number two what is their plan to properly vent the island appliances are a big part of your
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APPLIANCES
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outdoor kitchen they are going to be the components you use on a daily basis basis unfortunately a lot of contractors aren’t experts when it comes to appliances which means they may not want to deal with sourcing the appliances so they will tell you to Source them
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yourselves or they may recommend lower grade appliances to drive the cost down to make their proposal more appealing to you the key point is here is that ideally you want to work with an expert when it comes to your appliances because a real professional will understand your
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needs and be able to identify the right app liances for your situation they will also be able to do a lot of the work for you which will lead to saving you time and energy of not having to Source the appliances on your own this is not to say that there aren’t contractors that
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will be really well educated on appliances but a good majority of them don’t specialize in this area if the contractor is recommending certain appliances in your outdoor kitchen just simply ask them why and allow them to thoroughly explain one of the most
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important aspects of a successful outdoor kitchen project is the design
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DESIGN
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and planning stage you really want to make sure that whoever you are working with can provide you with strong design and planning resources this really allows you to visualize your project and really understand what you’ll be getting if the contractor is not able to
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provide design resources that will give you a 3D rendering of what the project looks like before you move forward this could be a good indication that you’re working with a generalist when it comes to to design an appliance placement there’s just so much to know so working
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with someone that doesn’t quite have the experience will struggle to put together a design that is not only aesthetically pleasing but one that is really functional with the flow and the layout of everything this is one of the reasons we strongly believe in training our
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designers at RTA to be absolute experts they are thoroughly trained and focus on outdoor kitchens on a daily basis so that we can give you the best experience and results possible it wouldn’t feel right if we
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PRICING
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left out pricing after all this is an important consideration for pretty much everyone when it comes to making any purchase the key thing with pricing and the contract is that you have absolute Clarity on what is included when the contractor puts together a proposal or a
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quote for you make sure that all the deliverables are listed and clearly defined also in the Contracting space change orders can be pretty common so you really just want to understand if if what you receive on the front end is going to be a final price sure there are
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unforeseen things that can come up that could justify change orders but going back to the generalist vers expert theme an expert will be less likely to implement change orders as they will fully understand how the project works and how to price it properly up front a
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contractor who is learning on the job may hit you with change orders after the fact to make up for things they never accounted for on the front end due to their lack of experience we really just recommend asking the contractor if this is a final price so that you know what
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you’re getting yourself into this is one of the reasons we believe in upfront and fully transparent pricing at RTA so our customers know exactly what to expect before they commit to any project and since we are experts in this industry we know exactly how to price your project
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properly so you won’t get hit with change orders after the fact if you are investing thousands of dollars into an outdoor kitchen you want to feel conf confident that in the event anything goes wrong you’re protected a warranty
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WARRANTY
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is really just a safety net for you and it also demonstrates the company’s confidence in their product simply ask the contractor what type of warranty they’re going to be offering if they don’t offer any warranty at all that certainly sounds like a gamble as you
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may be on the hook if something goes wrong with your kitchen years down the road a lot of contractors will offer a limited warranty on their workmanship but they won’t warranty the product itself a contractor won’t warranty the material itself and honestly for good
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reason they aren’t typically the ones manufacturing the stone or the materials they’re going to be using for your project so it’ll be hard for them to warranty it this is one of the advantages of working directly with an outdoor kitchen manufacturer as they are
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usually going to warranty the product itself at RTA we offer a structural lifetime warranty on our Islands so that you can be confident in your investment
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CONCLUDING ON
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an outdoor kitchen is something you should only have to to do once so choosing the right company or contractor is extremely important we do want to point out there again the fact that there are some great contractors out there but this video should help be a
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guide to help you sift through them don’t make the mistake of choosing someone because of convenience choose someone because of how qualified they are to do your project based on our experience choosing the wrong company can turn into an ongoing headache and in
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some cases an absolute disaster after watching this you should be well on your way to being able to make an informed decision that will lead to a successful project outcome if you got some value from this video do us a favor and hit the like button and hit subscribe so we
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can continue growing our channel to continue to spread outdoor kitchen value if you have any questions please let us know in the comments section below and we would be happy to answer them for you as always I’m James here with RTA outdoor a living and we look forward to
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continuing to bring you nothing nothing but outdoor kitchen value as we continue to help people all over the country host the moments that matter we’ll see you on the next video [Music]
