8 steps to find a good Contractor

Contractors are often a dime a dozen. You can open your search engine and have thousands of hits within seconds. That does not mean that you are going to get a good contractor that will finish the job on time and on budget. So how do you find a good one? Why don’t we break it down into steps.

Step One: Don’t wait until you need the job done immediately. If you put off a project until it becomes an emergency you are going to be limited to who is available. A good contractor is likely to need time before they can start, and finish, your project.

Step Two: Write down exactly what you want the contractor to do. Include why you want it done in your notes. The reason for this is that if you are getting more ambitious than your budget,  you may have to make cuts somewhere.group-of-contractors

Step Three: Make a budget. Make it firm. Tell your contractor what you can spend and then tell empower them to make changes to save money. You will want to clarify that you do not want less quality. You may have to make changes to what you want done to get quality material within your timeline.

Step Four: Find someone local. You will save money on labor costs if you go with someone who doesn’t have to drive as far to do your project. Hiring out of state is not a good idea because you will be paying for them to have accommodations in your area. :

Step Five: Talk to your contractor and make sure that they will get materials locally. Local materials that do not have to be shipped in will mean less in the long run. Don’t sacrifice quality for cost. save-money1

Step Six: Make sure that you have a contractor that you can talk to. It is important that your contractor understands what you want and what you are willing to sacrifice. If your contractor is too busy to listen to you then you may not like how the  project turns out.

Step 7: Check their social media page. Go beyond checking what they are posting. Look at what their customers are saying. Even if they have negative comments, the important thing is how they respond. The way they handle the bad shows how they handle the responsibility.

Step 8: Talk to your friends and relatives. They can offer you the best review of all. Don’t talk to just one person. Get as many reviews on a single contractor as you can.

The idea is to get the best possible price for the best possible project. Keep a address book full of the contractors that you use so that if you do have and emergency you know exactly who you are going to use to fix your problem.save_money1

More photos of this project