How to Choose a Contractor for Your Home Remodel
Sometimes, the most difficult aspect of a home improvement project is choosing a remodeling contractor. In order to ensure you’re on the path to a fantastic home upgrade, we’ve put together a few steps for you to take during the selection process. So, here are six things to consider when choosing a contractor for your next home remodel project.
Know What You Want
The first step in choosing the right remodeling contractor is all about you and your home. Have a plan. Decide what and how you want to remodel. Not only does having a plan make it easier to get an accurate estimate, you’ll also be able to compare estimates more easily.
Ask Your Friends and Family
Good home remodeling contractors generate a lot of positive recommendations. Ask your friends, family, neighbors and other acquaintances if they have ever worked with a contractor that they liked. Asking not only helps you narrow down your list, but also who to avoid. Knowing who does, and doesn’t, do a good job is an important part of how to choose a contractor for your home remodel.
Look for Online Reviews
Online reviews can be very helpful. Look for places where reviews are harder to fake, such as Angie’s List and Yelp, as well as social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter. You’ll get to see a broad range of experiences customers have had with the contractors you’re researching.
Speak With Multiple Contractors
After you’ve gotten recommendations and checked online, it’s time to call a few contractors. Always get multiple bids on your project. Even if you absolutely love the first plan you get, stopping there means you’ll never know if the quote you received offers a good value. Home remodeling contractors may charge different rates because they may have different specialties, so getting multiple bids is a good idea.
Tips for Choosing a Home Remodeling Contractor
When it comes to home improvement projects, you may find that many of them are not “do it yourself.” If it’s time for a home remodel, it may be in your best interest to leave it to a professional who knows what it takes to deliver high-quality results. Choosing a contractor to lead the project is a big decision and shouldn’t be taken lightly. After all, who you hire could have a huge impact on the outcome of the project and your level of satisfaction.
Experience
The type of remodeling project you’re considering can play a huge role in which contractor you choose. For example, if you’re making changes to your bathroom, you don’t want to hire a contractor that doesn’t have experience in . Whether you’re changing the look of one room or doing a major overhaul of your home, it’s best to find a contractor who has experience and expertise in many different types of remodeling projects. Ideally, you want someone who can do it all. It’s also important to consider how long they’ve been in business and how many similar projects they’ve completed.
Project Details
Be sure you know exactly what you want to accomplish. Be specific about how you want the finished project to look. Think about the materials you want to use and how much money you have in your budget. Are you willing to compromise on certain elements if you need to? Which changes are top priority? Letting the contractors you’re interviewing know these things up front can give you an idea of whether or not they’ll be able to deliver the results you’re envisioning.
Interviews
Choosing a contractor to remodel your home should be taken very seriously. After all, their expertise directly impacts the quality of the project, and a remodel is a significant financial investment. As a general rule, it’s wise to interview at least three contractors for your job before you make a decision. Use that time to get to know the contractor. Try to get a feel for their work ethics, priorities, and overall dedication. Don’t be shy when it comes to asking questions. It’s better to be thorough now than regretful later. The answers you get could be the deciding factor between one contractor and another.
Insurance
Before you hire a contractor, check with your insurance agent to see what’s covered by your homeowner’s policy regarding home repairs and remodeling. Make sure the contractors you’re interviewing have insurance, as well, and that their policy has adequate coverage for your projects. Checking this out ahead of time could help save you a huge headache later.
Keys to Choosing a Remodeling Contractor
Professional Standing: A good place to start when considering a contractor is their professional standing. Find out what professional organizations they belong to. You can also check their standing with the Better Business Bureau. This simple first step is a way to narrow your choices. Because the cost of entry is so low for remodeling contractor, there will be lots of fly by night, low bid options. Don’t be tempted.
Reputation: What do past clients say about the contractor? Are they frequently recommended? Are they invested in the community in a way that demands integrity?
Clean: The number one complaint about remodelers is dust and mess. Ask your potential contractor how they deal with dust when they are installing drywall in a home. How will they deal with construction debris? Will it be left in a pile on your front lawn or do they have a means of quickly getting it off site? A quality contractor will have clear routines for these basic issues of remodeling and, without hesitation, be able to provide detailed and reassuring answers. Vague answers that do not include things like dust walls, air scrubbers and same day removal are a red flag
Insurance: It is essential that any remodeling contractor you hire maintain necessary insurance to protect your home investment. This includes general liability and workers’ liability insurance. Ask to see their policies and call their carriers to verify.
Longevity: How long has the contractor been in business? Unfortunately, a great deal of necessary learning comes from trial and error. You do not want your home to be the class room for a young or inexperienced contractor.
How to Choose the Best Home Remodeling Contractor
Whether you want to resale your home or to give it a new look, you will always want to make sure that the right contractor handles the task. Only a well-experienced contractor is capable of giving your home that wonderful look that will make everybody passing by want to stop and have a look at it.
Online Reviews
The reason why you need to spend quality time looking at the online reviews is that this is the place where you will find important insight about the contractor. When people use services from a particular contractor, they will always want to go back and comment about the quality of the services that they got. If the services were not satisfactory, you will find this mentioned and it will give you a hint on what to do next.
Certifications
Before you decide that you are going to work with a particular company, it is wise to ensure that they have the necessary certifications with them. A license and insurance is a must. A good home remodeling contractor should have a license to show that they are qualified to offer the task that they claim to offer. An insurance cover, on the other hand, is supposed to take care of the unexpected if they happen.
The Reputation
A home remodeling contractor can only have a good reputation if they have been offering quality services to their clients. You can only know if a contractor has a good reputation by reading online reviews. It is here where you will find all the comments about the contractor. Best home remodelers will always have many positive reviews
Past Work
It is also good to take a look of the past work that has been handled by the home remodeler that you want to work with. If you like some of the projects that have been completed by the remodeler that you want to hire, then chances are that you will like their services as well.
How To Choose A Home Remodeling Contractor
It is a sad truth that contractors have a reputation for being untrustworthy. A couple of bad apples have given contractors a rotten reputation. But many contractors a good, honest workers that are dedicated to making remodeling projects easy for their clients.
Know What Kind of Remodeler You Need
Many people might not know this, but not every contractor is the same. Depending on the project you envision you should select the type of contractor that will most likely be able to make that vision a reality.
Read the Reviews
A good way to determine what kind of service a company delivers is by reading the reviews, both on and off their site. Can’t find any? That is never a good sign when a company hides them.
Make Sure They Are Licensed or Certified
Anyone can claim to be a contractor, put up a website, and take your money. Researching more about a contractor and their qualifications can save to the frustration and heartache of dealing with a fraud.
Check with Your HOA
Homes that belong to HOAs, or homeowner associations, typically have to abide by certain regulations and standards. This often means that renovations must be approved by your HOA, use certain types of floors or tiles, not change the home’s exterior, and constrict the level of noise created by the construction team. Finding a contractor that can work within HOA limitations is an essential step to building an addition for homeowners that belong to one.