Quick and Effective Ways to Get the Best Contractor
If you’re able to find a quality contractor out there, you can save time and money while still managing to receive the home improvements you’ve been dreaming about. However, you have to realize that this is a process. You’re not simply going to flip through the phone book and land on a premium contractor. Use these tips to help you hire the right company for the job.
Before you start researching different companies and looking at profiles, it helps if you’re actually searching for recommendations. It’s not hard at all to find these. Check out different forums and blogs, and ask your friends and family which company they used to handle their improvements. Someone is bound to point you in the right direction.
You should check out a few different contracting companies and have them give you quotes on the job. Of course, you’re not only focusing on the absolute lowest price here. You still want quality work. But you also want to make sure that you’re not being overcharged in the process. The right contractor will give you a great deal.
Next up, you should verify that the contracting company has a business license and that this license is actually valid. If you’re having your home worked on by an unlicensed company, you may be on the hook for financial costs should something go wrong.
Just as you want to check to make sure that the company’s license is valid, you also need to ensure that the insurance is valid. Contractor’s insurance is very important to you. What if something were to go wrong and a mistake by an employee busted a pipe and flooded your home? Would you want your insurance covering this?
There are a lot of resources available in the United States to help you when you want to find information on a licensed company. The Department of Consumer Affairs, for example, will have some information on the company you’re choosing. This is where different complaints are logged. So if you’re finding a lot of information about the company you want via the DCA, you might want to choose another company.
The DCA is where the complaints go, but the BBB (Better Business Bureau) is where the rest of the information can be found. This will tell you most of what you need to know about the company, as in to whom it’s registered, when it was established, etc.
If you want to make sure that everything goes off without a hitch, the last step here is to ensure that you’re receiving all of your estimates and warranties and other guarantees in writing. A company can quote you at a certain price, but if there’s no record of this, they can gouge you once they’ve completed and you will be legally obligated to pay. Make sure you have everything in writing.
It might seem like it’s hard work to hire the right contractor, but there’s really nothing to it. You just want to make sure that you’re doing your homework so that you’re hiring the best people.
