Chapter 5-----Finding the right contractor

Well now it is time to find a contractor, okay we are looking for at least 4 so we can get quotes to compare.  Why 4 because we want to make sure we are getting the right price and the right workmanship.  I like 4 because 3 doesn’t really help if one is really high, one is really low with the last one in the middle.  Getting 4 to 6 quotes will help with pricing where more of them might be around the same price.

      Now where are you going to find said contractors?  The first place is to ask family, friends and neighbours if they know of any, chances are they have had some work done.  The second place you might find a contractor is through flyers that come to your door (yes if you get a flyer for a contractor you should save it), a lot of contractors will do flyers as a form of advertisement for cost effectiveness.  Looking through the yellow pages in the phone book is a good way to find them, just understand not all the contractors are going to be in the yellow pages do to the price.  Last but not least is the great wide web (internet) to track down contractors.  Okay there is one more way and that is to drive around your survey and look at all the signs and trucks with names and numbers on it, as well as just going to your local lumber store and getting names off of trucks.

      Once you have a few numbers it is time to call and have them come and give you a quote.  First is to give them all the same job to quote on, if one contractor suggests a little change listen to him but have him just quote the original job and if you go with him than he can price that part out.  The reason you want to do this is for comparison, if each contractor has a different idea on the job the prices will be harder to compare.  Let us say if the first three contractors quote on a square deck but the fourth one suggests another design it would be like comparing the prices of three oranges and an apple.  What you do is listen make notes of the suggestion for the consideration when looking at prices.  Every contractor will have a different idea of what might or might not work.  You will use that in your decision making.  But you need them all just to make a quote for the square deck to get an idea on how much the charge.

      Before we go over all the quotes let us go over some myths and facts about what to look for in a contractor.  A lot of books give advice that would only apply to large companies and that would put the smaller good guys out of business if we only listened to their advice.

Myth #1

      Never hire a contractor that drives an older truck or one that drives a smaller vehicle with a trailer. Not true, if a contractor had to keep getting a new every few years he would be making much money.  There are a lot of good small contractors out there that can’t afford the newer trucks.  Secondly some small contractors have families so having a second vehicle just for work is costly, so they would be using a suv or something along those lines while using a trailer to carry their stuff.  What they drive is not indicative of their workmanship.  It is usually the bigger companies that always have the newest trucks out there, and ignoring the smaller companies that can’t afford the newest vehicles will be ignoring some of the best workers

Myth #2

      What they wear tell you what kind of company they are.  Again this relates to the larger companies because they will have sales associates going around quoting the jobs.  Is that what you want is to deal with a sales associate and not the guys that do the work?  I for one would rather deal with the ones that do the work as well, things get lost in translation.  What you tell the sales guy may not translate or get to the worker and you might get something you didn’t ask for.  Just because the guy came to your house in dirty rags and is unshaven does not mean he isn’t the contractor for you.  He more than likely just came from a job or is the middle of one and doesn’t have time to go home to shave and change into nice clothes.  Again don’t judge by what he looks like, most of us small guys don’t have legions of sales associates going around quoting our jobs.

Myth #3

      Contractors shouldn’t ask for money upfront.  Well let us go with the deck example, the materials came to $8,000.00 and the labour came to $11,000.  Most small guys would have money tied up in their existing jobs through labour, materials and tools among other things.  It would mean having to finish and get completely paid for the next job with no overlap.  Not the best way for a contractor to work, there needs to be some overlap in projects for the money to come in.  Secondly remember when I told you there are just as many customers walking way and trying to con the contractors, a small company wouldn’t be able to absorb that kind of loss.  So for their protection they do ask for at least the materials up front.  We will discuss this in depth in the Working with the Contractor chapter.

     

     So now we went over some of the myths out there, how does one protect oneself from being a victim of fraud?  Well get referrals, phone and visit these referrals.  Also ask (always ask don’t just show up, some customers may not like strangers just showing up) to visit one of their current customers to see the work and to see the workmanship as it is going up.  Now you have spoken to, visited, and have gotten the quotes from the contractors it is time to decide what contractor you are going with.

      To choose what contractor you want is not going to be easy.  You will take in the price, some of the change ideas that the contractor said and what the referrals have said about them.  So let us say the quotes go as follows: contractor 1 is $15,000.00, contractor 2 is $15,600, contractor 3 is $10,500, contractor 4 is 17,800, and contractor 5 is 14,500.00.  So if price was the deciding factor we all would go with contractor 3 but that would not be the case because you need to ask why is he that much cheaper than the rest.  You should compare the quotes to the price of materials that you got and from there it will tell you probably that contractor 3 is cutting corners or just under cutting the others to get the work.  He also will probably find reasons to increase the price as the job goes on.  With contractor 4 who is the most expansive you need to ask and see his previous work, the quality might be that much better that he is able to get that for his work.  Take all the referrals, interaction with the contractor, how readily available he/she is in answering your questions, his personality (yes you need someone you can work with, not everyone will be able to get along with everyone) and his ideas and put them with the quotes to figure out which one you want to go with.  Once you figure out which one you want to go with it will be time to learn how to work with and make a contract with the contractor, which is in the next chapter.