How To Find a Good Contractor: 8 Pro Tips
Real estate contractors are the muscle of any construction project. And without them doing the heavy lifting, there are virtually zero chances of you hitting your real estate goals.
However, finding a contractor that is perfectly aligned with your project goals can be a bit frustrating. The real estate market is a dog-eat-dog world, and a minor slip-up from an inexperienced contractor can cost you an entire project. This puts a lot of pressure on new investors who can't put in the leg-work needed to hire experienced contractors.
I have prepared this article as a guide to teach you how to find a good contractor for your goals, and I also answer some frequently asked questions in our community concerning challenges faced with contractors.
8 Step Checklist to Finding a Good Contractor
As earlier mentioned, finding a good contractor can be a hassle. I have prepared a checklist of some kind to help you land a contractor that will fit your budget, understand your plans and help you achieve your real estate goals.
Ask For References
It is crucial to ask your potential contractor for references. This will give you the opportunity to discuss and understand your soon-to-be contractor's capabilities.
By speaking with investors or other contractors they have worked for, you will get enough information to determine whether you will be hiring them or not.
2. Get Recommendations
Ask around for contractor recommendations from other real estate investors in your area. Recommendations from investors also present you with a pool of contractors to choose from. This grants you the opportunity to select from a list of reliable contractors and weed out the bad ones.
3. Organize a Meeting
Before organizing a meeting, you will need to narrow down potential contractors to a selected few. Organizing One-on-one meetings with these contractors will give you a feel of what it is like to work with them. A good way to go about this is to meet up with said contractors on site. Here, you can also observe their work ethic and rate their performance in real-time.
4. Create Plans and Make Bids
No matter how little your construction project is, creating a structured plan and making bids will help you identify who can handle your project. This will also help you select a contractor who specializes in your contract type and can work with the stipulated funds.
5. Conduct a Background Check
Always remember to consider a contractor's history before hiring them for a project. I advise you run a background check on their timeliness on previous contracts, the quality of work they handled in the past, and the range of their capabilities.
6. Ask for a copy of the contractor's insurance
Ask to see a copy of the contractor's insurance certificates. Try and look for general liability coverage and worker's compensation. These will come in handy in the event of an accident on site.
7. Review Their Licenses
Reviewing a contractor's license is a simple way to discover licensing issues or complaints. You can easily do this by conducting a quick search at your state's board for licensing contractors.
8. Draw Up a Contract
When your requirements have been fully met, and you have selected a good contractor, draft a binding contract. This contract should contain the precise timeline for the project, the fees to be paid, provision for any subcontractors, and the likes.
Frequently Asked Questions About Hiring Contractors
This section will answer frequently asked questions regarding contractor challenges. So, if you are facing any of these obstacles, here are actionable tips that will help you overcome them.
What Should I Do If the Contractor is Slow?
Timeliness is an important factor to consider when choosing a contractor. This is why it is crucial to perform a background check on a contractor's commitment to time.
Another way to prevent this is to pay part of the project fee, not full, before the start of a project. This will help you prevent future loss in case a contractor fails to meet the deadline. Part payments also help you easily switch up to a better contractor mid-project.
But if you didn't do any of this before hiring a contractor, I recommend you run a detailed assessment of what might be causing your contractor to be slow. If factors within your control cause the delay, for instance, when there is a shortage of materials needed for renovation, try to provide the required items. If the delay is caused by the contractor, consider hiring a new one.
How Long Does a Contractor Have to Finish a Job?
You should have a rough idea of how long a project type should take based on the time it took to complete other similar projects. Asides from this, there are other factors to consider, such as weather conditions, delays in the transportation of materials, and the number of workers working on a project.
Lastly, If a contractor fails to answer or return your phone calls promptly and does not respect you enough to arrive on time for your appointments, let them go immediately and look for someone who values your time.
How Should I Respond to Contractor's Quote?
Try and gather as my quotes as possible before selecting a contractor. This will give you various options to consider. With this, you can select whoever meets your demands.
You should also inform any contractor bidding for your project that you will be gathering quotes from other contractors to review later on. This will prevent them from overcharging and ripping you off.
How to Tell If a Contractor is Ripping You Off?
Getting ripped off by your contractor is probably one of the worst things to experience as an investor. Luckily there are certain red flags crafty contractors display. First off, corrupt contractors show signs of unwillingness to follow through with the terms of your contract and will refuse to perform duties under the contract.
Another way to weed out corrupt contractors from good ones is to compare local quotes. This tells you the specific price range contractors within the area charge. And if your contractor charges prices way above the rest, I think it's in your best interest to rule them out.
Get Reliable Real Estate Investing Tips
I have experienced firsthand the challenges individuals encounter with real estate investments, especially with hiring the perfect contractor. And this is why I have made it my job to inform and educate budding investors about all they need to know about real estate in DC.
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