Gary Burd

The contractor who worked my house says that he prefers remodels to new construction because he enjoys solving the problems that come up in a remodel. Although craftsmen cannot recompile to fix their bugs, the systems that craftsmen work on are generally less complex than those in software engineering. For example, the extra baseboard detail discussed in the article is unlikely to cause a problem elsewhere in the house. - Gary Burd

Cynically, I'd say that remodels are more likely to run over estimate for reasons the contractor can't be blamed for, whereas with new construction everything is their responsibility from the beginning so they don't have an excuse for cost overruns and schedule delays. - ⓞnor