Getting the Right Contractor

LICENSED, BONDED AND INSURED

Here is where my philosophy may differ from the main stream a bit – or – maybe I am just being truthful. Everything I’ve read about hiring a contractor starts out by saying that you should make sure they are licensed insured and bonded and this is safe advice. But is it always true? Undoubtedly there are people that have been stung by licensed as well as unlicensed contractors.

There are also situations where because of a breach in the contractors insurance agreement the insurance company won’t pay out without a legal battle. As far as bonding goes you will recoup at least some of your money or get the job finished by someone else. I cannot legally say to use an unlicensed contractor! I am not even remotely recommending that you do, I am simply acknowledging a simple fact: some of you will! Most subcontractors I know did some contracting without a license in the early stages of their career and did good work.

There are no guarantees! Even with a written guarantee you are not covered. What a license, insurance and bond say to me is that the contractor at least has intentions of staying in business. It says they invested the time, money and energy into making their company legitimate – and the license says that they at least had the rudimentary knowledge of their specific trade when they took the state test – whether or not they apply that knowledge is up to you to figure out. I don’t know about your state, but in Arizona, under my license I am only required to warrantee my work for two years in order to keep my license valid… that’s not very long juxtaposed a thirty year mortgage. I really believe the following paragraph is your best solution in getting your money’s worth – after you have completed the steps above.

INTUITION & INFERENCE

By now you have spent some time with each bidder and you have been exposed to their personality, enthusiasm, and hopefully some of their experience and knowledge. You have witnessed first hand some of their people skills.

Don’t let the bid prices override your guts or common sense; if you do you are asking to be among the many that regret their decision. Sure, you can ask for references and I recommend it, but not yet, why worry about calling all of those references from someone you won’t hire anyway?

PRICE JUSTIFICATIONS

Even after all of these bases are covered you may find discrepancies of 30-40% in your bids – this is very common. This in no way means that the high bidder is making too much money or even the most money. I also don’t mean that the low bidder is the one giving you everything you want for less money – sometimes one technique will bring a job in faster without sacrificing integrity, while another technique will sacrifice integrity. Ask the contractor to justify the bid – it won’t work to your advantage to divulge the other bids… but letting them know they are the highest or way up there will work to your advantage, if you ask them to explain why their price would need to be higher. Listen carefully, take notes if you like, if you are unclear about what they are saying they are going to do or why it will cost more that way, ask for elaboration until you understand – unless your guts have already told you to take them off the list.

MAKING YOUR DECISION

Now you have your prices. You have asked for justifications. You have read the proposals and a list of specifics are included in the descriptions of work to be done. Narrow it down to two or three and ask for references. Make the calls.

Ask:

I have ready many articles about the best way to keep from getting burned by contractors and many of them portray contractors as these potential snakes in the grass. If you don’t sort out the vipers you always get bit. I don’t think that is a very accurate picture… but maybe I am a bit biased – I mean hey who am I any way, but a licensed contractor? However, having been behind the scenes with companies like: US Homes, Estes Homes, Presley Homes, Dale Web Companies, Toll Brothers etc. and even working with lots of small subcontractors and remodelers over the past three decades, I would have to say that the large percentage of contractors are very hardworking, conscientious and reputable.

The big problem is always this: if you are the one that is ripped of, who cares how many other good contractors there are out there? It never helps to know this after the fact, so caution is advised and I truly believe that your best guidance in this matter is your own built in radar – pay attention to it! Ask all the questions you want and can think of, if you find resistance to answering your questions, remember this: Never hire someone that intimidates you or won’t answer your direct questions with a direct answer.

What prompted this newsletter was an email I got a couple weeks back that broke my heart. It was from a single mother that contracted to do a flagstone patio and the contractor disappeared with her money and never finished the job. She picked up Stone Patio Secrets Revealed from me and now she is going to take what’s left of the money and do it herself, which in and of itself is fine, but having to do that after you paid good money to have it done is insult to injury!

I truly wish she had read, Stone Patio Secrets Revealed before she got bids. I think all to often this scenario comes about quite innocently. Without the edification to converse in detail about the job, the bidding session consists mainly of: