Forget about the design. Forget about the budget. Poor communication will quickly sink the best-laid plans.

“The relationship between you and your contractor can make or break your home improvement project,” says Richard Roll, president of the American Homeowners Association (AHA).

According to N'ann Harp, president of Smart Consumer Services, “Some mornings you may feel like screaming as the truck pulls up and workers crawl out with tools that were invented to make as much noise as humanly possible. If you have trouble communicating before you start, there's going to be trouble during your project.”

Here are some handy tips to keep in mind when hiring and working with your contractor.

Hire someone you know (or at least someone you have thoroughly checked). If you don't happen to know any contractors, talk to your friends and neighbors. Find out who had work done, and if they would hire that person again without any hesitation. If they say yes in a heartbeat, the job not only looked good, but went well too.

Ask the contractor specific questions and follow your instinct. If you have doubts, keep looking.

Use your three-day right of rescission. If you sign the contract then have immediate regrets, you have a legal right to cancel the contract within three days of signing it (providing it wasn't signed at the contractor's place of business).

Be prepared to show what you want. Explain your project in graphic detail. The more information you give the contractor, the better. Clip pictures. Mark pages in books. Sketch possible floor plans. Make lists.

Listen and be flexible. Sometimes what we want and what we can afford are two different things. Your contractor is a trained professional (or at least should be). Be flexible enough in your vision to consider your contractor's point of view and ideas. It may save you money and get you a better result.

Be prepared to pay. Picking the lowest bid is not the way to pick the best remodeling contractor. Often, the lowest bids are underestimated, and that means cost overruns and a higher total in the long run.

Speak up immediately. If you notice a problem or something that is not what you wanted, speak up. Don't wait until the end to say, “You know, I really don't like the way the cabinets look.”

Include third-party mediation in the contract. Be sure to include a mediation clause in the contract in the event major disputes occur. This will give you some legal recourse in case talking it out doesn't get you anywhere.

For more information, go to the American Homeowners Association at www.ahahome.com or Smart Consumer Services at www.SConsumer.com.