How to Select a Contractor

You’ve done your homework and obtained some price averages that are relevant to your area for your upcoming bathroom renovation project; Great Job! Now its time to find a contractor – “Que the Jaws music”! This can be the point where panic sets in for some folks but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Back in the day (before indoor plumbing) the tried and true practice was to call 5 or 6 contractors in the hopes of getting 4 to 5 to actually look at your project, in the hopes of getting 2 or 3 to actually give you a bid. And you would get one really high number, one really low number and a third bid that wasn’t really a bid at all but rather an attempt to sign you up in the “book of the quarter club”. The good news is that you got 2 bids, the bad news is that they are light years apart and neither are doing the same thing, much less providing the same material.

Folks, lets take a step back and see how this could/should go.

Step 1: When you are ready to build your project spend as much time researching your contractor as you did in selecting the manufacture of your shower valves or engineered flooring. Contractors can be found rather easily. We are in phone books, on line, various magazines, newspapers, your neighbor even plays golf with a guy that went to school with a contractor! As soon as you tell one person you want to build something everyone has a contractor that you need to talk to (but not all contractors are meant to build your job – more on this in a bit).

Lets say you want to remodel your bathroom; if you do a google search of “bathroom remodelers” or “bathroom remodelers in my town” you will get a list of at least 1 contractor in the nearby area that does bathroom remodels. This is a good place to start in order to find “your” contractor. Next step, talk to your friends, neighbors, relatives or members of common groups. Maybe someone recently remodeled their bathroom and they can give a good referral (getting a lead for a contractor that does what you want done and from someone you know is about as good as its going to get).

There are endless ways to find contractors; you are reading the blog of one right now; if you have trouble finding someone to do your project drop me a line and let me see if I can help.