Tips for Hiring a Contractor for Home Repairs

Hiring a Contractor

When we bought our old house, I knew it was going to be a lot of work and there was work we would not be able to do ourselves.  This meant that we would need to hiring a contractor to help with the work.

Even before buying this house, I have worked with some pretty awesome contractors so I know the good from the bad. I seek out referrals from friends who have had good experiences.  And I did this again as we moved to a new area, which meant not our awesome contractors would want to travel up to us (an hour away).

I am learning not all friends have the same caliber of ‘good contractor mentality’.  Just because they are a friend, doesn’t mean they are someone you should refer to perform work.  Make sure you ask, have they done work for you.  It’s a difference in the kind of referral you are getting. 1. Someone who has done work for them and they were pleased, versus, my friend does HVAC and I have no idea if they are good or not. You can end up having a job half done, and the contractor refusing to return your calls (like mine did).

 

 

Ask before hiring contractor

Here are things to ask when looking for a good contractor:

1.  How long have you been doing (service, ie HVAC, electrical)?
   1. How long have you been working in this area (city, county). – this tells you if the possibly had to move to another county, city to do work because they suck and ruined their reputation where they live.
2. Have you done the kind of work we need done before?
3. How long with it take you to get the job done? This sets expectations.
   1. What if it takes longer? Possibly ask how many jobs they are currently working on.
   2. Do you offer a discount if you cannot meet this deadline and the delay is not caused by me?
4. When is your busy season? This will tell you if you might get delayed if there are power outages affectingn work load.
5. Ask for referrals of previous jobs.
   1. I would then ask these people how well the contractor communicated with them about the job.
      1. How prompted they were on returning calls?  Did the answer your calls or did you have to call them again and again and again and again….and were they polite.
   2. Did the contractor arrive when they said they would (day and time promised)
   3. Ask how the quality of work was that they had done.
   4. Would they want this person to come back and do additional work.
6. Will they file the needed permits to get the work done?
7. Are they licensed and insured?
8. If you have to sign a contract, can you get out of the contract if they suck.

Do your own research

After you get this information, you’ll want to do your own research.

1. Check for their business Facebook page and look for reviews and comments.
2. Search online by their company name to seek out additional comments, complaints, lawsuits.
3. Check the better business bureau to see if they have reviews or complaints filed.

It’s not only about the cost of the job or the quality of work performed.  What is your timeline to get the job completed?  How does this person communication and their timeliness to complete work.  What’s important to you?  How much stress do you want and do you want to have to hound someone to get work done?

When you find a great contractor, cherish and appreciate them.  They are sometimes hard to find!

If you need to get out of a contract, here’s hoping you can switch to a better contractor.