How to Hire the Right Contractor

When you own a home, there will come a time when you want to make some changes to the layout. Maybe you’re getting tired of the look, and you’re now in the mood to try something a little different. If your desired renovations are pretty significant, it would be best to hire a contractor to help bring your ideas to fruition. When you pick a contractor, however, you have to make sure they are going to do the best job possible and not cause you any grief. There are several steps to take in doing so, but these are a few to get you started.

The first thing you should do is ask around for recommendations. When you talk to people whose opinions you trust, such as friends, family, or even your building inspector, chances are they will have several names to provide for you, and inquiring others about contractors will give you a better idea of who you might want to consider hiring. If it were me, I would want to talk with my acquaintances first before checking online reviews because you can actually talk with those of the former group, instead of just reading an online review.

After you have done some research and made a list, begin making phone calls to your possible contractors, and also have all of your questions ready, such as if they are insured and licensed, before you start calling around. This is a big job for your house, so you want to make sure you know what you’re looking for and that the contractors know what you’re looking for. It also won’t hurt to ask your contractor for a list of previous clients. This will give you an idea of their past experiences, which will come in handy because you don’t want to hire just anyone. Also, ask the contractors if they will be working on any other projects at the same time as your home. You want to hire a contractor who is going to be able to commit as much time as possible to your home. So, if they have multiple projects going on, you might want to consider hiring someone who will be a little more flexible.

Once you make your calls and narrow down your list, the next step is to meet with your final choices. This will further help you when choosing a contractor because you will get to see how you interact with them in person. Don’t forget, this individual is going to be working on your home for a period of time (depending on how long it takes to finish the project), so even if you agree with the personalities of your contractors, it will be in your best interest to check with your local Better Business Bureau to see if these contractors have had any arguments with previous clients. This is something you need to find out because you have to be sure that you hire someone with whom it will be easy to communicate in a friendly and professional manner. If you’re making changes to your home, the last thing you need is a contractor who’s going to cause problems.

After you meet with your final choices, it will greatly benefit you to contact some of those contractors’ past clients and ask how they felt about those contractors. Without being intrusive, ask those clients if they wouldn’t mind letting you see their finished products. This is pretty much the equivalent of contacting a person’s references on a job application and will give you an idea of the quality of work that these contractors will be doing on your home. All of this feedback from past clients can be an important factor that determines whether or not you decide to hire a certain contractor.

Making considerable changes to your home is a time-consuming task, and you want to make sure that it goes smoothly. In order to make that happen, you have to hire the right person, so take your time in researching who you would like to work with. Once you find your contractor, you will then be ready to remodel your home!

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Sources

www.thisoldhouse.com