Finding The Right Contractor For You
It Can Be a Challenge to Find and Hire a Professional Contractor to Design and Build Your Project
Please Use These 18 Questions To Help You Find the Right One Out of the Hundreds of Remodeling Companies in the Houston Metro Area
Most homeowners make the decision to renovate or build once every 10 years or more and many don’t know what questions to ask to evaluate each contractor’s reputation, experience and service.
The following information is provided to assist all homeowners in evaluating and choosing a professional contractor in the Phoenix Metro Area to design and build your project.
If you are planning on a ??, want to update your kitchen or bathroom, or want to renovate your entire home, these questions will help you. But first remember the following:
- Insist that each contractor provide their answers in writing and don’t share their answers with any other contractor. Unfortunately, the unscrupulous or desperate contractor will say yes if you ask them “this is what the other contractor agreed to do, will you do the same?”
- Please don’t be bashful. Every quality contractor in the Phoenix area will be able to answer these questions and will be willing to provide their answers in writing.
- Just because someone seems nice or was referred to you does not mean that they have the experience to design and build your project. Arizona has contractor licensing but anyone with just 4 years of experience can get a general contracting license.
- While this is not necessarily a complete list of all the questions you should ask, these are the most common ones we have been asked over the years.
- You will learn a great deal about the contractor’s reputation, policies, procedures and experience just from this short list.
- For each area simply ask the questions and ask the design build, general or remodeling contractor to provide the written evidence to support their answers.
Company Reputation
- Do you have an up-to-date license in Arizona, within the proper classification, to complete the type of project we are considering?
- Will you give us a complete list of all of the businesses you have been an owner, shareholder or partner in that has been in the home improvement or home contracting business within the last 10 years? (Each owner should provide this.)
- Have you or any of the other owners ever filed for bankruptcy for this or any other company that you owned, were a shareholder of or partnered in?
- What type of proof of insurance and bonding will you provide?
- How many relevant customer references will you be providing?
- Are there any other letters of reference that you can provide?
- What professional building and remodeling industry associations do you belong to?
Experience and Operations - Who will be supervising my project on a day-to-day basis?
- Will you provide a resume of my project supervisor’s experience?
- How many projects that are similar to mine have you completed?
- What contingencies are included in your contract?
- How often will you provide a complete project update?
- How often will you complete a walkthrough with me during the project?
- What type of scheduling program do you employ?
- Do you have a written policy regarding tobacco, drug and alcohol use by your crews?
Service, Follow-Up and Follow-Through - How long is your warranty? Please explain exactly what it covers.
- Have you ever repaired a project after the warranty expired without charging for it?
- What is your company phone/email policy?
Once you ask these questions and review the contractor’s answers, the quality contractors will stand out.
