I faced this same decision when I renovated my corner terrace a few months ago and obtained quotes from about 4 companies - three ID firms and 1 contractor. I ultimately selected the contractor who acted as main contractor and coordinated my various other works, although I was also quite hands on and handled the various sub-contractors (carpenter, electrician) myself. This main contractor is quite well known and is recommended on this forum. First, some background. I am not an industry professional and I can only speak as to my experience as a customer. However, my wife and I consider ourselves to be fairly savvy consumers and this is not our first property or renovation experience. The workscope for our new home is fairly limited and contract value was approximately $50k. The main work was to hack the existing enclosed kitchen and turn it into an open plan kitchen. All kitchen cabinets were new and water points in the kitchen were rerouted. Other work is to construct polycarbonate awnings over some doors, interior paint, polishing of marble and parquet flooring, and minor renovation of toilet to construct new vanity and sink. The main (only?) advantage of a main contractor is cost savings. If your contractor is the same price or more expensive than your ID, then something has gone wrong somewhere. The real question to ask when choosing between contractor and ID therefore is, what is the additional amount for? There are two important assumptions here. First, I am assuming that your ID is reliable and competent. Secondly, I am assuming that you have the budget to pay the additional markup for ID services, if you think that it is necessary to do so. To me, there are three things you are paying for when you engage an ID and when you pay the 20% (and up) markup over the actual contract value for the ID services. Project Management Services Firstly is project management services, where the ID handles all sub-contractors, coordinates their work and integration between the different elements, and hopefully delivers the final renovation according to the agreed schedule. During the renovation process, you (the customer) only deal with the one single ID instead of having to deal with each sub-contractor. A main contractor can, to a certain extent, replicate these project management services, but as he is not really making that much money from this deal, this is not a priority for him. But as an industry professional, he will have contacts and experience to move the process along in the right direction. If you (the customer) have the time, interest and patience to get your hands dirty with project management, you may not require ID services, but also consider the remaining two points. Quality Control As a consumer, unless you have the interest and inclination, you are unlikely to be up to speed on best practices in interior design / construction and so someone experienced like an ID should be able to help you monitor workmanship and, if necessary, to get contractors to properly re-do subpar work, instead of doing a quick patch job. There is certainly information disparity between a contractor and a consumer and if you get a contractor who is in a hurry or who is unscrupulous, he may be inclined to hide certain problems rather than have it rectified properly, knowing that you are unlikely to find out until it is too late. It is more difficult to fool an experienced ID. If you (the customer) have an extreme eye for detail and have the time to constantly monitor the reno works, and you don't mind being difficult to get what you want, again, you may not need an ID for this reason. On the opposite end of the spectrum, if you don't particularly care about quality or details, again an ID may not be necessary since you won't be bothered about these elements. Design and reality check Finally, a good ID provides design services and provides a reality check for some of your ideas as to whether it is practical or sensible. If you are clueless, your ID can provide you with ideas. Even if you are very creative and have a scrap book of design ideas, you may need someone with practical experience in translating your ideas into reality within a set budget, and to gently tell you whether something is a good idea or not, and the pros and cons of implementing your idea. People have have a general sense of what they want, but they may not know how to achieve it. It is not so easy to source for laminates, tiles, paint colours, furniture and fittings and too many choices may lead to paralysis and fatigue when you end up focusing on nitty gritty details rather than big picture issues. If you are working with difficult, non-conventional properties, an ID may be even more important than you have a straighforward layout. To give an example, I was faced with the decision of either trying to find marble floor tiles which matched my existing marble floor tiles, or to install a contrasting floor tile. I decided to match the floor tiles and went to source for floor tiles myself, spending several weeks visiting different tile warehouses. I finally found one warehouse who claimed that they would be able to match my floor tiles, but unfortunately, they did not match and I now have to live with a 30% difference in the floor tile colour. I believe that if I had an ID, he would have advised me not to match and go with a contrasting tile. Again, if design or detail is not very important to you, then an ID may not be necessary. Summary I probably saved $10-$15k (20%+) compared to a reputable ID and I was overall satisfied with the professionalism and workmanship of the contractor. He delivered what he said he would deliver. However, if you asked me to make the decision again, I may have decided to go with an ID to get a better result, even though it would have cost more.
