Finding a good contractor

Finding a good, reliable contractor can be a tough job, and it pays to spend some time selecting a serious one.

Here's how to avoid getting into trouble:

• Check credentials. Any major project demands a licensed contractor with a permanent place of business, a real phone number and a line of credit with local suppliers. An unlicensed home-improvement contractor is more likely to disappear into the night.
• To properly vet a home-improvement contractor, ask to see his license and make sure it has been issued to the same company you're contracting with; ask to see copies of his insurance policies and verify that he is carrying worker-compensation insurance, as well as general-liability insurance.
• Visit clients for whom the contractor has done similar work.
• Call his subcontractors to make sure they get paid on time. Ask his suppliers if he pays those bills on time.
• Keep the cash. You lose your leverage as soon as you pay. Put as little down as possible; no more than 25 percent to 30 percent for material-heavy jobs (like kitchens, where the cabinets need to be ordered), and less than that for jobs like roofs that are mostly labor.
• Pay with a credit card; that gives you a second avenue of dispute resolution and weeds out those contractors who are so marginal they can't afford to take plastic. The contract should allow for periodic payments as the job is completed.
• Don't make the final payment until the job is done and the contractor has signed a letter stating that he, and his subcontractors, have been paid. Plan carefully and follow the plan.
• It pays to hire an architect to design any project that will change the outside of the house or significantly reorder the inside.
• Use the architect's plans to get bids from at least three contractors, and don't hire the contractor whose bid is much cheaper than the others.

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