6) I’m just here to make it pretty.

OK, time for some tough love. Someone has to tell you that your contractor —

Is.

Not.

A.

Designer.

Most contractors aren’t going tell you that you could get an extra foot of space if you simply bent a pipe and ran it in another direction, or that they are capable of making your new flooring flush with the old floor with a little extra work, says Lori Dolnick, a public-relations executive and home-design blogger.

They just want to make all of your cherry wood and marbled granite dreams come true, take your money and move on to the next job quickly.

So, you either need to hire a designer — even for a consultation — or start thinking like a designer and insisting that your contractor execute your vision.

Part of it is laziness but it’s also money.

“These are the things that add costs,” Dolnick explains. “A lot of contractors are afraid to add costs to a job.”

And remember: They’re not in the hand-holding business. Designers are. A designer will say to you: “How do you want to change your space? What’s important to you — open concept? Extra storage?”

If your contractor scratches his chest and says, “What’s important to you, darling?” — you’d better pinch yourself, because you’re probably dreaming!

7) Let’s talk trash.

It’s easy to get excited about paint colors, exotic woods and granite countertops but once you nail all of those things down, you’ve still got a long list of things to talk about — and it’s not pretty.

Things like: What are the working hours (will they conflict with when your baby is sleeping?), when is it OK to use the noisy equipment, who’s going to clean up all the dust, who’s going to take out the trash, what are the rules of eating, drinking and smoking on the job, etc.

If contractor A goes through all the details of the work and then says “OK, let’s talk about trash and dust and working hours,” but contractor B doesn’t, it’s easy to say, “Maybe I’d better go with B … he wasn’t as negative. He left me with a better feeling,” Hovde said. “But maybe it would be better to go with A … instead of B,” who was just saying what you wanted to hear to get the job, he explained.

8) You don’t need a furnace that big.

It happens all the time — you need a new furnace, but know nothing about furnaces. So, you call in a contractor and delegate the job to him.

Well, here’s the reality: contractors often put in furnaces that are 50 percent to 300 percent larger than the home actually requires, says Dan Kartzman, the owner of Powersmith Home Energy Solutions on Long Island in New York.

“The reason? They don’t want you calling them back and having to go back out there,” Kartzman said.

“Every house has an energy load – an amount to keep you warm in the winter and cool in the summer,” he explains. “If you get one too big, you’re wasting a lot of energy …essentially, wasting a much bigger engine that your house doesn’t need, which keeps it from running efficiently.”

The solution is to have your house tested to find out exactly what your energy load is — and make sure you get a furnace that’s neither too big, nor too small — but just right.

9) Trust me, you don’t want stainless steel.

OK, so we all agree stainless steel is pretty and that’s what buyers want. And at the end of the day, your contractor is here to give you everything you want — like stainless steel. (See also, “No. 6: I’m just here to make it pretty.”)

But it’s your job to figure out what’s practical for you — not just what’s popular.

Dolnick and her husband recently had their kitchen remodeled. And, while she sings the praises of her designer, she regrets that her designer recommended a stainless steel dishwasher.

“OK, she’s young, she has no kids. Did I say no kids?” Dolnick wrote on her blog. “How many dented stainless-steel dishwashers have you seen in your friend’s kitchens?” she quipped.

“Unfortunately, many kitchen designers, unless they have children of their own, won’t see that their once-pristine dishwashers are now dented by toddlers who fling themselves at top speed into their shiny surfaces.”

Not to mention, all the fingerprints.

“I can tell who opened it by where the handprints are!” she joked.

That’s not to say you can’t still get stainless-steel appliances, just that you may want to consider spending the extra money to have cabinet surfaces installed on top of the appliances. It’s not just aesthetic — It’s more durable and resistant to toddler-flinging antics!

10) If you pay me too much up front, I’ll leave before the job’s done — or rob you blind.

OK, by now you know that home renovations always cost at least 10 percent more than you budgeted for. But what you may not realize is — if you pay him too much up front, he’s not going to finish the job.

“A lot of people pay as they install things,” Dolnick said. “But think about it: If you’re doing a kitchen, the cabinets are 90 percent of your cost. When they install the cabinets, you’ve just paid almost all of your bill,” she explained. “You might owe $100 at the end of the project — who’s to say they’ll come back?”

Griffin suggests that you make a “punch list” of things that have to get done. When the penultimate 20 percent payment is due, it should be contingent on round one of your punch list being completed, she said. The final 10 percent should be paid only after the final punch list is completed.

Likewise, you need to check in your contract how much your contractor will charge you for any change orders — things you decide to add on as you go along.

“Negotiate the labor per-hour cost of those changes” ahead of time, advises Missak (Mike) Balian, president and CEO of Toledo Homes in Pasadena, Calif. That way, if you say it’s going to be $30 an hour for labor charges for additional work, that way he can’t charge you $40 or $50 or $60. Plus, put a cap on materials, Balian says. Otherwise, you’ll forever be choking on your own rage during house tours for friends and family, when you point out your $10,000 sink!

“Don’t get sucked into paying as you go,” Dolnick said. Figure it out ahead of time.

Otherwise, your renovation will be one big string of profanity-laced tirades, instead of the dazzling granite-topped transformation you imagine it to be.

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