WHEN HIRING A CONTRACTOR, KEEP THIS IN MIND!
Most people that I know have had a bad contractor experience.
These experiences come in all sorts of flavors, from bad workmanship
to unfinished work to “unforeseen” cost over runs,
or in the worst case, the contractor skips town with your money
and does no work.
I have been involved with several commercial construction projects
in the last few years. Troubles can arise, even with licensed,
bonded contractors. Here are some of the things I noticed before
the problem started:
Contractor in question’s bid was far below all of the
others. This is a sure sign that the contractor is either unfamiliar
with the work in question, or has under bid on purpose because
he intends to have cost over runs. Another play on this theme
is if the contractor offers a great bargain in order to use
your project as an example.
Contractor has questionable or no references and or no fixed
business address. Always ask for references, if the contractor
does good work, he will have many, many examples of this through
his references. Any contractor that does not have a fixed business
address could be a fly by night operation.
The contractor does not want to go through the formalities
of signing a contract. When you are doing any major work, a
contract that spells out what the scope of work is, and what
the contractor’s responsibilities are. This is standard
business practice and any person who does not want to follow
that is suspect.
You get a bad feeling. Trust your gut feeling, the guy who
seems like a sleazy sales man probably is. High pressure sales
tactics such as “This price is only valid until I walk
out of that door, you have to sign this right now…” are
a very bad sign.
Contractor uses scary scenarios to get you to buy more expensive
options or more extensive work than what you initially wanted.
If problems are uncovered during a project, they should be
obvious. Like a doctor, you can always get a second opinion.
The best way to find a good contractor is to ask your friends,
family or neighbors. More often then not, they have used somebody
with a good result. Be extremely wary of the guy who pulls
up in front of your house out of the blue and tells you that
you need a new roof (or something else). Best to tell that
person to be on his way. Additionally, many locations require
contractors to have licenses. If you live in one of those locations,
it is perfectly reasonable to ask for a copy of the contractors
license and insurance certificate.
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