All Forum Posts by: Bruce P.

Is it on your website somewhere @Paul Dashevsky? On a related note, your website looks pretty cool - I wonder if I could use it to vet my friend's contractors who are bidding?

Thank you all, what you are saying makes so much sense. @Paul Dashevsky - I would love to get that checklist / resource, thank you and please feel free to DM or post it when you can!  Loved the specifics in your post. It jives with what I experienced when I asked for multiple bids.

Thank you @Andrew Galambos, I updated the original post - my friend does give them the architectural drawings/plans, so they are able to make a bid from that.

Hi BP community,

So my friend is building an ADU in their backyard in the Los Angeles (specifically Westlake Village / Moorpark area). A couple of questions came up.

1) What is a typical payment structure that is fair to both the contractor and the client? Some bids seem to break things down in chunks of 20-30% (roughly 4 to 5 payments over the course of the project) and some seem to want 50% pretty much upfront. I guess I'm looking how to structure things to reduce risk yet still be fair to both.

2) The other question - I notice some bids are rather "loose" in their description of materials being used. I assume my friend should dig into the details and ensure the proposal has specific materials (e.g., "freon free air conditioner" as opposed to "air conditioner") before agreeing to work with the contractor? Just wondering how much time they should spend - I imagine some materials such as insulation are fairly standard whereas other things like countertops might require more homework in terms of selection and taste.

Thank you @Valerie Rogers, that is a great idea!

Thank you for the replies everyone, plenty to think about. @Daniel Chun, the goal is to limit one's exposure to liability and headaches resulting from such exposure (e.g., like that airbnb community post example where the guy was contacted by the ISP). The more I have to deal with such headaches, the less time I have to focus on more fun stuff, like optimizing costs and revenue :)  Hope that answers the question and feel free to let me know if it does not.

Thank you all.

@Michael Baum - this post https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/This-is-how-I-have-Wifi-set-up-for-guests/td-p/898265 is why I wanted to set up VPN.  Guests can't always be counted on to do the right thing.

Hi, just wondering has a recommendation on a VPN provider for an Airbnb host in terms of affordability, ease of use/setup, and security? I'm going to setup a separate network for guests and want to limit any kind of risk from a visitor's mistakes.

oh wow, thank you @Carlos Ptriawan, I didn't think you could fit that much in a 700 sq ft space!

Thank you @Kyle Affronti