Construction or renovation is no simple DIY task, and often it makes sense to hire a professional.
Hiring a professional contractor is a great way to ensure that your project goes according to plan runs smoothly and turns out exactly how you want.
Be it as it may be, choosing the wrong contractor can lead to a myriad of problems such as delayed work, subpar work, or even land you into legal problems.
To avoid that, we’ve created a detailed guide, highlighting the tips you need you to follow to hire the right contractor.
Ask for Proof of Insurance
The first crucial tip when on a hiring spree is to ensure that your contractor is insured.
Contractor insurance will generally cover the contractor for any accidents that may happen to their servicemen in their line of duty.
An insured contractor will save you from the hassle of having to compensate the workers if anything happens to them while working on your property.
Besides cover for the servicemen, an insurance policy covers for damage, destruction, and loss of construction materials, and more that may be as a result of natural calamities, accidental damage, or theft.
Related: Essential Tips for Effectively Managing Contractors
Ensure Your Contractor is Licensed
Licensing is crucial as it verifies that the contractor is knowledgeable in their domain, and most importantly, they’re compliant with the state and local requirements.
In most cases, licensing is required as proof that a contractor has been authorized by the state to perform their work. And failure to adhere to that can result in a hefty fine.
While at it, homeowners mustn’t get confused by a contractor license, which is popularly known as a contractor bond.
A contractor bond is a type of a surety bond that legally protects you, the contractor, and the state bond issuing agency.
Hiring a bonded contractor guarantees that the contractor will execute their duties according to the conditions stipulated between you and the contractor.
More importantly, a contractor bond will guarantee the contractor dully pays their subcontractors, suppliers, and workers.
Getting a contractor bonded by contractorbond.org will ensure that your contractor will provide professional and ethical services, and will always remain liable for his obligations.
Know Their Specialty
It’s a shame that most of the homeowners assume that all contractors are equally qualified to work on different homes, but this is further from the truth.
See, construction and repair is an extensive domain, covering a plethora of fields such as building and construction, renovation, plumbing, heating & ductwork, painting to furnishing.
For the best results, therefore, you’ll need to hire a contractor that matches your needs.
Sure, multi-national corporations might have enough servicemen with adequate skills for each specialty, but if you’re going for the local contractors, you need to confirm their specialty.
Assuming you’ve a leaking pipe, it would be of no use to hire a general contractor or an electrician. Rather a plumbing contractor will suffice.
Hiring a plumbing contractor will ensure that you get a contractor who is adept in their trade and knows ins and out of your problems.
Experience
Most of the construction projects, plumbing, electrical works, drainage, name it, require hard skills.
Now, you might have the best credential in town, but when it comes out in the field, skills are what matters.
Skills are the little competencies that will allow you to perfect your trade, and they are usually fine-tuned by time.
When choosing a contractor, it would be wise to go with those who have been in the industry for long.
This is because they have mastered their trade, and have seen it all, which is quintessential when it comes to delivering results.
Again, few of the experienced contractors would really be in business for that long if their skills were wanting.
However, we’re not trying to disparage to upcoming and new contractors; in any case, you might find new contractor companies that are worth the salt.
Get Referrals and Recommendations
The final and most important tip of hiring a contractor is to ask for referrals and recommendations from friends, relatives or neighbors.
Talk to building inspectors and know which contractors routinely meet the code requirements, and those who don’t.
Using the spoken word, you’ll have an idea of which contractors to approach and which one to desist from.
As we mentioned earlier, choosing the right contractor can either make or break your development project. Fortunately, following the above guidelines will allow or a more informed choice.
