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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