How to Choose the Best Home Remodeling Contractor
Whether you want to resale your home or to give it a new look, you will always want to make sure that the right contractor handles the task. Only a well-experienced contractor is capable of giving your home that wonderful look that will make everybody passing by want to stop and have a look at it.
The fact that there are many home remodeling contractors will always make it hard for you to choose the right person for your project. However, if you use the internet, the process will always be easy because you will have all the necessary information that will make it possible for you to find the right person.
Online Reviews
The reason why you need to spend quality time looking at the online reviews is that this is the place where you will find important insight about the contractor. When people use services from a particular contractor, they will always want to go back and comment about the quality of the services that they got. If the services were not satisfactory, you will find this mentioned and it will give you a hint on what to do next.
Certifications
Before you decide that you are going to work with a particular company, it is wise to ensure that they have the necessary certifications with them. A license and insurance is a must. A good home remodeling contractor should have a license to show that they are qualified to offer the task that they claim to offer. An insurance cover, on the other hand, is supposed to take care of the unexpected if they happen.
The Reputation
A home remodeling contractor can only have a good reputation if they have been offering quality services to their clients. You can only know if a contractor has a good reputation by reading online reviews. It is here where you will find all the comments about the contractor. Best home remodelers will always have many positive reviews.
HOW TO SYSTEMATICALLY CHOOSE THE RIGHT CONTRACTOR
When planning a home remodeling project, homeowners face a long list of worries and concerns. How much will it cost? Will it take too long? Is this really the right move? But there is one question that homeowners could benefit from asking more often: how do I hire the right contractor?
According to the CFA (Consumer Federation of America) and NACAA (National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators), contracting is the top complaint among homeowners doing home improvement. Another survey found that almost half (48%) of all respondents would not hire their contractor for a future project
Being homeowners ourselves, we understand the pain of spending hard earned money on substandard work. That’s why we created a highly effective method for weeding out the bad contractors until you find the right one.
This method consists of 5 essential P’s: People, Process, Portfolio, Price and Past Clients. Based on these, you can create a 0–50 ranking system that drastically reduces the risk of ending up with the wrong contractor and throwing your money down the drain. The first step is to narrow down your choices of contractors to a manageable number. 3-5 is ideal. These final contenders can be found by asking friends and family for referrals and selecting those in your local area.
It is important to remember that you are hiring people with whom you are going to spend quite a lot of time with. You will frequently talk to them, discussing various options. You will work together trying to make decisions on various issues. The project period is sort of a marriage. If you do not connect with your contractor, the whole thing may end up in shambles with you suffering the most.
How To Choose A Home Remodeling Contractor
It is a sad truth that contractors have a reputation for being untrustworthy. A couple of bad apples have given contractors a rotten reputation. But many contractors a good, honest workers that are dedicated to making remodeling projects easy for their clients
Know What Kind of Remodeler You Need
Many people might not know this, but not every contractor is the same. Depending on the project you envision you should select the type of contractor that will most likely be able to make that vision a reality.
For example, designers are good for projects that entail colors, shapes, light, and design elements, whereas an architect can better handle construction and structurally changing the layout of a home. Companies that are design/ build contractors, like Post & Beam Design/Build, can handle both elements of a remodel. We can build an addition to your home while give you suggestions on what design works well.
Read the Reviews
A good way to determine what kind of service a company delivers is by reading the reviews, both on and off their site. Can’t find any? That is never a good sign when a company hides them.
Make Sure They Are Licensed or Certified
Anyone can claim to be a contractor, put up a website, and take your money. Researching more about a contractor and their qualifications can save to the frustration and heartache of dealing with a fraud
TIPS FOR CHOOSING A REMODELING CONTRACTOR
Get Recommendations
Word of mouth is the best way to find a trustworthy contractor. If you know someone who has had a good experience with one, start there.
Look at Credentials
Once you have your recommendations, start checking them out. Visit their website or make a phone call. Make sure they have all appropriate licenses and insurance certificates as well as any designations from professional associations like the National Kitchen and Bath Association
Check References
Contact former clients to find how their project went and ask to see the finished product. Better yet, visit a current job site and see for yourself how the contractor works. Is the job site neat and safe? Are workers courteous and careful with the homeowner’s property? Remember that when you’re hiring a remodeler, you’re buying a service and not a product. Quality of service will determine the quality of the finished project. It’s a good idea to even check with your local Better Business Bureau. If you can’t find any information on them with the BBB then they are most likely complaint free.
Interview Candidates
Once you have your list of candidates narrowed down, you can and should start the interview process. Start by calling them and asking questions like:
• How many projects do they work on simultaneously (leading to how much time they will spend on your project and how long it will take to complete)
• Do they have employees or sub-contractors? If subs, how long have they been working with them?
• Do they pull permits and handle all the required inspections?
• How many projects have they done that are like yours?
• Do they produce a schedule for your jobs, and if so will you have access to the schedule?
• How are change orders handled?
• How are selections made?
Complete Guide To Choosing The Right Home Remodeling Contractor
There are many important decisions to make when it comes to remodeling your home: Which architectural style best fits your personality? Should you go with cool and calm tones, or opt for big, bold colors? What is your timeline? How about your budget? All of these questions are important, but they take a back seat to choosing the best home remodeling contractor for your specific renovation project.
Homeowners who are planning a remodeling project typically take similar steps when searching for a contractor to work with. They ask friends and family for references, use search engines to find local firms, browse profiles and project photos on Houzz, Instagram, and Pinterest, check out customer reviews and testimonials on Yelp, Google, and BBB, and more.
Make no mistake – the distinct between these two is important. Any remodeling contractor worth their salt should have a well-designed website that features high-quality project photos, industry awards and affiliations, client testimonials, and more. They’re also likely to have solid reviews, both online and from in-person references (if this is NOT the case, you can cross them off your list right away). If nearly ever contractor presents themselves as the best, how do you determine which one to ultimately work with?
The Murray Lampert Design, Build, Remodel Team
Use Google and Bing to find out which home remodelers in your area consistently show up in the search engine results, then dig deeper into their Houzz, Yelp, Google+, and BBB profiles. Look for high-quality images, before and after photos, and any industry awards or certifications they may have. Pay close attention to their online reviews, and in particular, how they respond to those reviews. Does the company respond to each and every review that is left for them, both good and bad? If they have any negative reviews, do they handle those promptly and professionally?
Confirm that the 3 or 4 contractors you’ve identified are fully licensed and insured. Licensed remodeling contractors have to adhere to strict industry standards and regulations. The risks of hiring an unlicensed contractor include shoddy work, permitting issues, code violations, and financial liability for injuries or accidents. Once you have the contractor’s license number, you can confirm details such as license status, general business and bonding information, and the companies workers’ compensation policy, among others