Is this common? What are the pros and cons?
It seems like it would be easy since they give you a drawing and your idea is on paper.
The cons are that the contractor gets his price and the store gets their cut. If you use the contractor alone, you save the store’s cut.
Pros are that the contractors have to do a good job or Lowe’s/Home Depot steps in on your side. I have heard of people getting the whole job redone right and then comped. These contractors also carry a whole lot of insurance.
I have used them and it certainly give you some recourse if things go wrong and some validation that they are legit.
However, I have found that you end up with extra hassle becuase Lowes/HD is always in the middle of the discussion, having to approve changes, etc.
Price-wise they are a pretty good value; sure you can find cheap thru mon-n-pop outfits, but there is always a risk in deal with those people.
In summary it not a bad way to go, if you have no reference or contacts to work with. I would go that route vs. blindly picking out of the phone book.
So it may cost a little more but in the end it may be worth it?
depends on the project. we wanted Home Depot to replace a front door. big hassle. First they wanted to charge to come measure the door, then pull permits etc, etc
Kitchen was almost the same, charge to measure before ordering cabinets, no extra work like moving outlets, redoing plumbing, etc, etc. So you still had to bring in other contractors.
we didnt use them for either project, but we did buy the cabinets from Lowes.