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How to Choose a Home Improvement Contractor

A home improvement project can be very stressful. Make it less stressful by choosing your contractor carefully. The key to success is to check out everything you can about the contractor before you part with your money.

1. Check with friends which have done similar work to the job that you are contemplating. See how satisfied they were with the contractor. If you don't have any friends which had that type of work done, you'll have to resort to the local Yellow Pages.
2. Before you even start calling the contractors, check with the Better Business Bureau (BBB)in your area. See if there are any unresolved complaints with a given contractor. Choose one that has no record of complaints, or one where the complaint was resolved to the consumer's satisfaction. Be aware that a new contractor or one that changed his legal name to dodge complaints may not have any record of complaints with the BBB, so it is important to follow all of these steps.
3. Call contractors that pass the BBB test as well as get bids. Be sure to give the job details the same way with each contractor so you won't be comparing "apples as well as oranges". Get a list of references, that is recently completed jobs the contractor has done that are similar to yours.
4. Select the best bid. The best bid is not always the lowest, as the quality of materials may differ. Examine the proposals carefully.
5. Call the references given by the contractor you picked. See how satisfied the customers were with the job. If there were complaints about the job, or the contractor was unable to give any references, consider the "second best" bid instead.
6. Read the contract carefully. Make sure that the contractor has liability insurance as well as that his employees are covered by workman's compensation. Ask questions about anything you don't underst as well as .
7. Once you are satisfied with the contract, sign it as well as give the contractor his deposit by check. If you decide to give a cash deposit, be sure to get a receipt.
8. Hopefully these instructions have helped you pick a good contractor. Good luck with your project!

• All else being equal, a contractor that is large enough to have a real person answering the phone during normal business hours is a better bet than a "one man b as well as " that has all of his calls go to voice mail or an answering service.
• You may find that you can find no contractor that hasn't had some complaints. If this is the case, choose the one with the fewest complaints, as well as look for a statement in the BBB report that says "the amount of complaints is average for this type of business".

• Do not rely on verbal promises. Get everything in writing. That way, there will be no misunderst as well as ings as well as your position will be much stronger if, heaven forbid, you have to go to court to resolve a problem.
• Do not pay for the full job in advance. Most contractors on small projects will require a small deposit upon signing, half upon actually beginning the job as well as the remainder on completion. On larger jobs, such as a room addition, the payment will be broken into thirds at certain "benchmarks", such as one third upon beginning, a third upon completion of framing, rough plumbing as well as rough electrical, as well as the final third upon completion.
• Be aware that if the contractor does not have workman's compensation insurance as well as a worker gets hurt on your job, you could be held responsible! Likewise, if he damages your neighbor's property as well as he doesn't have liability insurance. For extra peace of mind, ask the contractor the name of his insurance company as well as call that insurance company to verify that he does have liability as well as workman's compensation coverage currently in force.

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Added: Thu Feb 02 2006

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