How to Choose a Contractor

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I’ve lived in 20+ homes and think of myself as a competent, careful person.  My husband and I usually research any purchase or major decision that we make.  We are spreadsheet pros and cons kinda people.  But sometimes, no matter how careful you are, sometimes you just make the wrong choice (you can’t know what you don’t know).  That’s what happened last year when we had our basement renovated.  We learned these 5 tips on how to choose a contractor that we used in selecting the contractor currently working on our kitchen (and we’re so happy with his work!). 


As the military has moved us around, we’ve lived in so many homes and hired numerous contractors over the years.  Overall, we’ve had good experiences, but last year when we hired a contractor to finish our unfinished basement, we had a miserable experience.  Let me establish that no one was physically harmed. Nothing burned down.  Nothing illegal occurred.  No money was stolen and the job was completed. If you saw my basement, you’d tell me it was lovely (and mean it sincerely). While the finished basement makes us very happy, the process was so unpleasant that it’s taken me a year to be able to talk about it with you.  What a bad contractor doesn’t understand is that the process is just as important as the product. A good contractor understands that and you want to hire a good contractor so that you have a good renovation process and a good renovated product.

How to choose a good contractor:

1.  Ask your neighbors, friends and other related professionals for recommendations. We found our current contractor by talking with a neighbor.  Our neighbor and two of their friends had used our contractor and were extremely pleased with the work and all the interactions.   Because were a military family and always moving, we can’t always find someone to give us a personal recommendation.  In the past, we successfully found a good kitchen contractor by asking at a small, family-owned flooring store. Several of the staff at the store recommended the contractor that we used.  Take the time to find someone who can personally recommend the contractor.  You want a contractor that understands you would like a pleasant experience in addition to an outstanding product and does this {below} on the first day to reduce the dusty impact on your home (seals up the work area but leaves an opening so you can check what’s going on). 2.  Check them out on the Better Business Bureau website and other service rating websites, but take that information with a grain of salt. Take the time to research the contractor, but realize that reviews can be bought and not everyone submits a review.  Those reviews do not tell the whole picture.  You are better off relying on the recommendations of someone you know. Although, our miserable contractor had a good rating on several different sites,  he left this pile of rocks in my basement for 5 weeks!  I asked several times to have the rocks removed but got put off each time. Finally after 5 weeks, they began removing the rocks…only to leave this smaller pile for another 5-7 days.  It may seem like a small thing, but it was unnecessary and indicative of other issues we had.   3.  Ask lots of questions when you’re interviewing the contractor and prior to signing any contracts.  Then ask a bunch more. Be sure to ask every question you have up front.  It’s better that you’re both clear on expectations and concerns before you sign the contract.  You can learn a lot about the contractor by how he or she handles and  answers your questions. You want to ask questions so you end up with a contractor with the truck that looks like this! (I should ask him to do a guest post on organizing).   4.  Get everything you can in writing and in the contract. Don’t take the contractor’s word for anything (I apologize to the honest, trustworthy contractors).  Ultimately, you don’t know him and he doesn’t know you.  It’s in the best interest of both of you to have everything written down.  Our miserable contractor had confirmed certain items by email prior to us signing the contract.  Later he refused to complete those items because they weren’t “in the contract” despite the fact that I had the emails to show him. We worked it out eventually, but it contributed to our unpleasant experience.  Getting things written down in the contact protects you and the contractor also. 5.  Visit the contractor  at a current work site, if you can. In addition talking to references (and it’s much better if you can locate independent references, rather than use the ones the contractor provides), ask to visit a work site.  If you’re looking for a pleasant renovation experience, you want a work site that looks like this … … and this (they protected the flooring in the rest of my house from their work boots on the path they had to take to and from the electric panel). You don’t want a contractor who leaves the floor looking like this day after day (and they weren’t even working on this level of the house!). 5.  Go with your gut feeling. If you’re not comfortable with the contractor or unsure about using them, then look for someone else.  This is someone you’re letting into your home and asking to do significant work to your home.  You need to feel that you can trust them.  Know that even if you’ve done all your research and feel comfortable, sometimes you still end up with the unpleasant contractor.  That’s what happened to us.  All you can do is take every step you can to try to eliminate the unpleasant ones and find a dependable, honest contractor you can trust.  And once you find that contractor, she or he is like gold! You want the contractor with the work truck that you could eat lunch out of (and that is vacuuming the rough, unfinished work area before he goes home right now as I’m writing this). Do you have any tips on how to choose a contractor?   More of the renovation story:           New Kitchen Ideas board on Pinterest: Follow Organized 31’s board New Kitchen on Pinterest.

Susan

I’m a mom of 3, a veteran and military spouse. I’ve moved into 20+ homes all around the world. My passion is helping busy people make the space and time for what’s really important to them.