Is it about time for your home to get a touch-up? Or are you getting ready to start with a new home construction?
No matter your goals, finding a good home contractor to do the work is vital if you want a successful project. The problem is that you have a lot of options to pick from. After all, the home improvement industry has a value of $394 billion.
If you’re having trouble finding a reliable home contractor, this post will help you with the process. Below are eight tips that will help you find the right business to help get your home looking new.
1. Know What You Want
It’s hard to find a contractor to do a job if you don’t have a good idea about what you want. It might not be a problem for a simple project. However, things change as requirements get more complicated.
If there are several parts to your home construction, you might need to work with several types of contractors. If you know what you need beforehand, you can speed up the process of finding the right people to do the job.
Knowing what you want also allows companies to give more accurate estimates. You won’t be caught off guard down the road when an unexpected expense comes up.
2. Don’t Take the Lowest Bid
You need to be out there getting bids from as many contractors as you can. A lot of them will probably be similar to each other. Other times, you may have one contractor that underbids everyone by a lot.
The question you need to ask yourself is if that contractor offers excellent service for the money you pay. You never know the corners a business will cut to keep their costs low. If someone gives you a low price, make sure to do your due diligence before hiring them.
It makes more sense to take the middle ground. Find the contractor that gives you the most value for money. Paying a little more money can give you better service and help you sleep better at night.
3. Make Sure Insurance and Licenses Are Valid
You don’t want an accident to happen on your property while a contractor doesn’t have any insurance. You may be liable for any injuries if this happens.
Make sure to ask for verification that their company will carry insurance for every worker they use. Their insurance will cover any accidents that happen in your home.
Most contracting companies also require licenses to work in your local area. Make sure all their licenses are valid and up to date.
4. Ask Who Will Be Doing the Work
A lot of contracting companies don’t hire full-time workers for their jobs. Instead, they subcontract the work to individual workers.
Subcontractors may not have the same insurance and licenses as the original contractor. Ask your contractor to provide you with a list of every subcontractor they hire who will be working in your home. You need to make sure that every person has the proper insurance and licenses to be working in your home.
5. Read Online Reviews
You do have options available to you if you don’t have any references for reliable contractors. You can find the companies close to you by searching on Google.
Type in the type of work you need to be done on Google, and you’ll get a list of the businesses close to your location. You’ll be able to see where they’re located and get their contact information.
The good thing about Google is that customers can log in and provide reviews for companies. Try to find the highest rated contractors you can. They are the companies you should contact first.
6. Find a Specialized Service
There is a lot of home improvement projects you can undertake. If you want to find the best person for the job, then try to find a specialized contractor to take on your project.
Say you want to know more about integrated video screens for a home theater. You wouldn’t want to ask a roofing contractor your questions. You would want to talk with someone who has worked with home theater setups in the past.
Doing this ensures you find a contractor who knows all the small details that need to be covered. A general contract worker may not have the depth of knowledge a specialist has.
7. Ask for References
It’s easy for a contractor to claim to do good work. It’s another thing to be able to show examples of your past jobs.
Ask a contract to show you examples of work done in the past. Doing this will allow you to see the quality of the work they do.
If possible, ask to talk with the people they worked with. Doing this will help you learn what the process of working with a contractor is like.
Even if they can do the job, it doesn’t mean they are the right for the position. You need to know that you can work well with them through the process.
8. Get Everything in Writing
You can’t rely on a verbal agreement when handling a big job. You need to get every part of the job in writing before the work starts.
Your contract will help protect you in cases where a job goes wrong. There may be times where a company won’t complete a job because they think it’s out of scope.
Your contract will tell you precisely what needs to be done. You won’t have an unfinished job because there is no way to verify something was part of the job.
Don’t Ignore These Tips to Find a Reliable Home Contractor
You don’t want just anyone to work on your home. You need to put in the work to find a reliable home contractor. If you pick the wrong person for the job, you could end up with a mess that costs even more money to clean up.
Are you interested in learning about more home renovation tips that will help your home’s value? Head back to our blog to find more projects for your home.