Deciding on who to hire for a home improvement project can seem like a daunting task, but hopefully this article can take some of the mystery out of it for you. I will list major points of advice, and expand on each with a paragraph or two.
Don’t be in a hurry
Preventive maintenance helps you to plan projects instead of reacting to disasters. Good contractors tend to be busy and have existed since the dawn of time, so be wary of any contractor who comes up with odd reasons why you need to sign up now. Contractors with problems who “need the job” are not your problem. Coupons and discounts can be fine, I’m not necessarily against contractors who use them. But be wary about “buy now” offers that don’t make sense or seem like a tactic. Certainly if a contractor seems to be manipulating, bullying or pressuring you into starting the job, something is off. Along with this, don’t be too impressed with a contractor who can start the job tomorrow. When you walk down your favorite boulevard to select a Friday night restaurant, do you automatically prefer the empty restaurants, or do you figure it’s worth it to wait 30 to 40 minutes for the one that is packed to overflowing? Contractors are often the same in this regard. Sure, one can have an opening that just came up due to a postponed job, we’ve had that too. It’s not necessarily a huge red flag if a contractor is available soon, but people are often far too impressed with a contractor who can start the next morning, and base their choice of contractor on who can start first. I would question that basis if I were you.
Overall, we advise that you dictate the time frame and how fast things move, based on careful consideration. Contractors aren’t your boss, you are the one interviewing or hiring them. You may need to compromise with them on this due to their own time constraints, but this should be within reason.
Get more than one bid
As much as I sound like I’m helping my competition here, first and foremost our responsibility as contractors is to the home improvement industry, not our bottom line, and we are expected to act that way in how we guide customers. So getting a 2nd (or even 3rd) opinion on a project can be a good idea. Just remember: you are not always comparing apples to oranges. Contractors range in quality, experience, competence, accountability. When reviewing bids, suspiciously low bids and suspiciously high bids are both matters of concern.
You may ask “what is wrong with a low price,” the short answer is: change orders. A contractor can lure you in with a lowball price, starts the job, then comes up with a reason why there are $3,000 in additional costs, “but we started the job, so… what can you do, we have to move forward, right?” Or the contractor has no idea what they are doing and three weeks later into a three day job, you have a bathroom no one can use and a contractor not returning your calls. Or they are going to do a very bad job using unqualified labor and cheap grade materials, with predictable results. The high price one is pretty obvious, some contractors simply charge way high, hoping you will not shop around. But an excellent contractor may cost 20% more than a mediocre one. Price is another factor to consider carefully alongside other aspects such as quality.
Get references
Any good contractor should be able to give you contact info on customers you can communicate to, to find out what their experience was with the contractor. Ideally these would be people in your area, who had similar projects. For example, an HVAC contractor offering a bid to replace an HVAC system, I would hope with give me references of people who have had HVAC systems replaced or at the very least, very significant work done.
Check with the Contractor State License Board
By simply going to www.clsb.ca.gov, you can click a consumer link and then check the status of the contractor. A contractor in California is required by law to include their license number on their messaging (e.g. website, flyers, proposals). Not doing so is not necessarily some huge red flag because a lot of contractors aren’t aware of this law. So ask them for their license number if you haven’t located it yet.
When you look them up, you can see their license type (should make sense based on the field of work they are bidding on), if the license is active, and all sorts of information. See for yourself and you’ll see if things add up or not, but one piece of advice we give: be wary of contractors who have their worker’s comp data listed as stating they do not have employees so they aren’t required to have worker’s comp. Really. So… who are the people showing up to do the work? Invaders from outer space? Nonsense, they have employees. So if they aren’t covered by Workman’s Comp, YOUR home equity, savings and checking and assets are the guarantee for those workers, should they get injured. Rare instances can be where the contactor says yes, he is the only one who will be showing up to do the work. Even then, the question remains “what happens if you get hurt.”
Not everyone has to be licensed. Handyman work under a certain dollar limit does not require a license. Some cleaning contractors do not have to have a license to do cleaning. It’s up to you if you want to hire them or not. One handyman we used until he retired never had a license but we swore by him and he existed based on referrals from happy clients. And having a license is not proof that a contractor is great either. But certainly if the law requires a license, they need to have it.
Check reviews on the internet
“Google it” is a common phrase these days, but yes… do so (or whatever search engine you prefer). Look on whatever review source to see what people think of the contractor. It can take experience learning how to tell good reviews from malarkey, but it’s worth reviewing. And don’t assume a contractor is bad based on a one-star review, best to read them. We have a one star review from a woman in Florida who is unhappy with our rain gutter installation. Um… we are in Pasadena California, and we don’t install rain gutters. Did yelp remove it? No, they said it is a valid review reflecting an actual customer experience with us, despite that being impossible. Plus no contractor is perfect, and people exist who CANNOT be pleased. But certainly a preponderance of negative reviews should be of concern to you, and how the owner responds to them should be of concern to you. Four stars or above tends to mean the contractor is fairly earnest and pretty much knows what they are doing, as a general rule, but don’t count on reviews alone.
Liability Insurance
Most contractors in California are not required to have this. You have to ask yourself if you are comfortable using a contractor who does not have it. Such insurance is very expensive, so not only do some contractors decline purchasing it, some will even state that they have it when they do not. So ask for a certificate of additionally insured in your name and with your project address on it, and contact the broker to verify that the policy is indeed in force, if you want to be sure.
Communication
How well do they communicate with you, how easy is it for you to communicate with them? “Difficulties discussing projects” is not a good sign. A contractor who doesn’t seem to be available to answer your questions has to make you wonder, will this person be available to also make sure my project goes well? Or are they just too busy to help me. Even getting off the phone and feeling like you are a “a problem” to the contractor is not a good sign. Not every lapse in communication is a red flag, these are people with lives and they aren’t necessarily always staring at their emails to see if you have a question. But a reasonable availability is important. And communication is a two-way street, so do your best to be reasonable, but at the same time, if you have inordinate difficulty communicating with this person, I’d call that a red flag.
Detailed proposal
The proposal should be clear and state what they are going to do and what materials they are going to use. It should cover all significant aspects of the project. Contractors typically won’t get into details as tiny as what brand of nail they will use, but certainly the proposal should show that they will do the project right, and what the major materials will be. It’s okay to have questions, even good contractors can’t cover ever possible question you may have with a contract, but it should not be a flimsy piece of paper giving a general sentence that just sort of says “do some work”.
Warranty does not = other warranties
Not trying to be inscrutable here, I’ll explain. Many contractors take the implied material warranty of the manufacturer they are purchasing from, and make statements as if that is their warranty. “30 year warranty on our shingles” does not mean the roofer is giving you a 30 year warranty, and sadly, it’s very common for contractors to state implied material warranties from the manufacturer as if that is THEIR warranty. Material warranties are very limited. Also a contractor offering some amazing warranty, who has been around for four years and has bad reviews… I don’t know how much I would count on that warranty. A warranty is, at the end of the day, worth the responsibility and accountability of the contractor issuing it. Reviews often enlighten one on this. So on this point, I would advise to not be swayed by promises of amazing warranties because unless the contractor seems amazing, their warranty probably isn’t. Even a manufacturer’s material warranty can be voided due to an incorrect installation, so again, this entire subject can be summed up with warranties being as good as the contractor issuing them.
Financing
This is often part of pressure tactics but to clear up a major point: home repair/remodeling financing is always available to you, just google it and you’ll see dozens of offers in seconds (or just call your own bank or credit union). Contractors offering financing do NOT have something others do not, they simply are using their connection to some outside financier as a sales tactic. That can be fine, mind you, but again: it’s not something you don’t already have available to you, you do not have to go through your contractor (who might be getting a commission for closing you on financing). We offer financing if people ask, because we do believe the company that does it gives very competitive rates, but we don’t push it. Sometimes financing is necessary and can be part of your decision process, but you should know it does not have to be “the roofer’s” finance company, and if they insist it be theirs, something is off. One last point on this: home equity loans are sometimes very competitive.
Overall
When judging a contractor based on all these points above, you want to decide what aspects are more important to you. A contractor who everyone says is the best in town, might be grumpy and “salty”. A contractor could have a low price, but bad reviews. You have to weigh all the pluses and minuses involved, then make a decision and hope for the best. But the bottom line is most Americans put more research and investigation time into an annual vacation, than they do in buying a home. We’re not saying to devote your life to this research, but give it the importance it deserves.
