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How to choose the right contractor in Livermore, CALivermore Homepage: Real Estate Homepage |
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For anyone who owns a home, do-it-yourself projects are a fact of life. Being able to undertake a project with your own two hands has a number of advantages.
You have the feeling of pride that’s associated with your own accomplishments. You know the work is being done exactly the way you’d envisioned it, with the exact materials you want. You can schedule the work – and any resulting inconvenience – around your family’s schedule. And, of course, you can save some money.
But there are some projects that, due to time constraints, your own skill level, or simply the overall size of the project, you don’t want to undertake on your own, so you make the decision to hire a professional contractor. And the first question that arises is almost always "how do I find the right one?"
Know what you want – know what you need
Before you even start looking for the right contractor, you need to know as much about what you want to have done as possible. That sounds simple enough, but a surprising number of people have only a vague idea of what they want to do, and that can result in lots of disappointments and misunderstandings. The more details you have ready to give the contractor – from room sizes and intended uses to colors and types of appliances and trim – the better your chances will be of getting the finished product you’re hoping for.
You also need to know what types of companies perform the types of services you’re looking for. As the saying goes, you don’t hire a proctologist to do brain surgery - even though they’re both doctors, they have different specialties. If you want a contractor to repair your fire-damaged home, look for someone who specializes in fire damage, not a firm that only builds new homes.
There are also times when you need a general contractor, and times when you don’t. If you want to have a new toilet installed, you need a plumber, not a general contractor. But if you want to have a room addition built, you want to employ the services of a general contractor with specific remodeling and room addition experience, as opposed to hiring five or ten individual subcontractors.
Referrals
The single best way to find a contractor is to get a referral from someone you trust. If you have a friend or a relative who had some work done on their home that they were pleased with, that’s a great starting point. You can get some honest feedback about the contractor’s skill level, price, scheduling, level of cooperation, and much more. There are a lot of contractors out there to choose from, and like most businesses, they succeed or fail mostly by their reputation, so a good referral is very helpful.
There are other sources of referrals as well. If you see a room addition being built down the street and it seems like it’s going well, stop and talk to the homeowner. Most people are more than willing to share their experiences – good and bad – about the contractor they’ve hired, and here again you can get some great first-hand information.
Material suppliers are also great sources. Ask the people where you buy your lumber or your plumbing supplies if they know of anyone who’s particularly good at the type of project you have in mind. Retailers have a reputation to protect as well – they want to keep you happy and coming back as a customer – so they will typically only refer contractors whom they know are honest and will do a quality job.
Ask questions, then follow up
When you have a referral or two, call the contractors to set up an appointment. Ask the following four questions:
Do they do the specific type of work you’re looking for? It could be they no longer do kitchens or room additions, or they now do remodeling and have stopped building new homes. Clarify that up front.
What is their schedule like? If you have a project that has to be done within the next month and the contractor can’t even start until then, there’s no point in wasting your time or theirs.
Can they provide you with referrals? Most companies are more than willing to provide you with names and phone numbers for past clients - if they can’t or won’t provide you with referrals, don’t hire them! Between the time you call the contractor and the time they come out to your home, be sure and follow up on a couple of the referrals and get some feedback from the homeowners. For larger projects, you may even ask if you can come out and view the contractor’s work.
What is their name and license number? Get the contractor’s full business name, address and business phone number, as well as their contractor’s license number. Immediately follow up on this information, and call the proper state or local licensing agency to verify the status of the license and that any required bonds and insurance policies are in place. ... REGISTER BELOW TO GET EVEN MORE INFORMATION! Related Articles Also..
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