Hiring a home improvement contractor can be a scary proposition. Dealing with a bad contractor can be a real pain. You are about to spend a lot of money into your house, and trusting simply anybody can be a difficult thing to do.
Contractors in general do not have a good reputation on the street, which is extremely shameful, since there are a lot of really good and honest contractors out there. However, if you do some research it is actually simple to detect the bad contractor from a good one.
Low bids wind up high in the end. Typically the biggest red flag is a quote that is substantially lower than others. There are usually 2 reasons of this.
One is that the contractor is a "change order" artist, in other words he purposely omits things in his proposal or intentionally under-estimates certain prices. For instance, he will provide you an unrealistic allowance for counter tops, and later you find out that the counters you want are a lot more expensive, so you foot the difference. Or you will discover that the allowance for the flooring is for linoleum when you wished for or requested hardwood.
The second reason for a reduced bid is a desperate contractor. A contractor that has actually not had a job in a while. He will underbid the competition just so he can stay busy.
These jobs usually end up with the contractor going out of business halfway through the project, and a lawsuit to follow. You do not want to be in that tenuous position.
Be careful of the home improvement general contractor that sub-contracts your entire project. In this case, the proposal might not be lower -- sometimes it's even more expensive -- but the contractor has no crew.
He means to make use of subcontractors to complete your job at the cheapest cost possible while collecting a premium from you. So make certain the general contractor has a sizable crew, who are employees of the business. Your cash will go much further with a contractor that actually does the work.
Contractors in general do not have a good reputation on the street, which is extremely shameful, since there are a lot of really good and honest contractors out there. However, if you do some research it is actually simple to detect the bad contractor from a good one.
Low bids wind up high in the end. Typically the biggest red flag is a quote that is substantially lower than others. There are usually 2 reasons of this.
One is that the contractor is a "change order" artist, in other words he purposely omits things in his proposal or intentionally under-estimates certain prices. For instance, he will provide you an unrealistic allowance for counter tops, and later you find out that the counters you want are a lot more expensive, so you foot the difference. Or you will discover that the allowance for the flooring is for linoleum when you wished for or requested hardwood.
The second reason for a reduced bid is a desperate contractor. A contractor that has actually not had a job in a while. He will underbid the competition just so he can stay busy.
These jobs usually end up with the contractor going out of business halfway through the project, and a lawsuit to follow. You do not want to be in that tenuous position.
Be careful of the home improvement general contractor that sub-contracts your entire project. In this case, the proposal might not be lower -- sometimes it's even more expensive -- but the contractor has no crew.
He means to make use of subcontractors to complete your job at the cheapest cost possible while collecting a premium from you. So make certain the general contractor has a sizable crew, who are employees of the business. Your cash will go much further with a contractor that actually does the work.
About the Author:
Learn more about home improvement contractor. Stop by this home improvement general contractor site where you can find out more.
No comments:
Post a Comment