I am watching one of those renovation shows where the designer/contractor is getting upset because the client doesn't trust him to do the job the way she wants. I have encountered this too, not with people I've hired, but with people who do estimates. They take the design I have carefully thought out, and often try to talk me into changes I don't want. (Not upsells, not building code issues, just ways to make their job easier which change the look or functionality of the space.)

What have your experiences been? Do contractors take over the project and do things their way, or do they check with you on design decisions? Take the poll....

My friend had renovations done and the contractor did everything perfect except install the wrong sink in her bathroom but it was a error on the store delivery without her knowing they sent the wrong item. It was fixed. Then the wrong shade of tiles were delivered and the delivery guy from the store swore they were correct. She learned to check everything after it was deliveres (if she was not there) and recheck before anything was installed. Her contractor worked with her and did give her some options which worked out better and also found some fault with previous repairs done to the house.

He did things my way and better. When he had an idea, he'd tell me, and if it was better, I'd say, "do that instead." He was wonderful.

Our contractor checked everything with us before installation. He showed us the product, made sure we were good with it and went over once again the way we wanted things. Additionally, like No Cute said, he sometimes had better ideas to make things work more smoothly, and he suggested those and we usually agreed. Then again, we live in a very small area and our contractor was not from a large organization. His livelihood depends on word of mouth. But with the jobs he has done for us as we ripped out walls and rebuilt rooms has been exemplary.

Ah contractors -- I'd say that most of the time, you just have to stay on top of them, and be prepared to develop some level of trust --whether that is real trust as in I know you've got my back or reverse trust, where you know you have to have your own back, if you get the rules down I think you're half the way home.
I've been working on my house (1937 colonial frame house) for the past 18 years off and on and am finally getting to the place where if it isn't done the way I want, I have no qualms making people do it again but some silly things always seem to creep in -- the light switch on the wrong wall, the outlets not exactly where I would put them ... but I have to say, my guy took my sudden desire for a french door in complete stride, even dipped my old brass hardware and used it for the door rather than put on something nasty and new.

From what I remember as a kid: the foreman & architecht were lovely. The contractor was really out of his element. The parentals had to go hard on him to get what they wanted.

My contractor was OK. I would give him an B and would use him again. I was very busy during my rennovation. I would say you have to stay on top of the work and test everything.

As I remember my contractor was carefully followed my directions from selecting tiles to use in our bathroom and kitchen down to buying French doors for our house. He is such nice that he gave us a discount to his service.