One of the most difficult parts of any home repair or renovation project is ensuring that contractors hold up their end of the deal. It’s unfortunately very common for contractors to be negligent, lazy, and take shortcuts.
However, there are a few effective ways of safeguarding against negligent contractors. It’s definitely worth learning about these if you have a renovation or repair project coming up, so you can implement them.
This post will tell you what they are, so you’re prepared for your next project.
Performance Bonds
Performance bonds are this list’s most effective way of ensuring that contractors do what they are paid to do. If you are not familiar with them, then they are a type of bond that ensures contractors do what they’ve been paid to do. If in a building project where a performance bond has been taken out, the contractors don’t completely work according to the contract, then they can get into a lot of trouble. These bonds provide a legal guarantee, ensuring that work’s completed properly. If the contractor you have hired does not fulfill their end of the deal, you are entitled to financial compensation. More often than not, only qualified and experienced contractors will consider projects where performance bonds are requested because failing to complete the job properly will lead to them being forced to pay compensation, and then potentially having to re-do the entire job.
Get Recommendations
A good way to find reliable contractors in your area is to ask for recommendations from loved ones. Your friends and family aren’t going to recommend anybody to you who isn’t qualified or who won’t be able to complete the job properly. It is worth noting though, if you ask anybody that you aren’t especially close with, they could make a biased referral (as in a friend of theirs or even a family member). When people make referrals based on their relationship with the contractor, they sometimes refer underqualified or inexperienced individuals.
Trade Association
If a contractor is genuine, reliable, and cares about their reputation, then they will be a member of a trade association. A trade association is an organization that contractors join, where contractors are able to discuss legislation and changes in the industry, as well as network, and promote new trade laws. Trade associations only admit contractors who are committed to delivering a high-quality service. It is very unlikely that if the contractor you hire is a member of a trade association they will take shortcuts because it could lead to them being kicked out of the trade association that they are a part of.
Established Premises
Another good way of determining whether or not a contractor’s reliable is if they have established working premises or offices that they work out of. Many cowboy builders work out of a van, with no fixed premises. Fixed premises can complicate a cowboy builder’s life since it enables clients that they have betrayed the confidence to find them. With that said, however, just because a contractor doesn’t have established premises does not for a second mean that they can’t be trusted. It is just a good sign if they do.
Online Reviews
Always check out a contractor’s reviews before you agree to work with them. Their reviews will give you a clear idea about their commitment to their work, and the industry as a whole. One thing that you need to bear in mind when you are reading online reviews is that it’s now common for contractors to pay for fake reviews. You can usually spot these reviews though since they tend to be overly positive, are all written in the same style, and are posted one after the other. If you want to find out about a local contractor, then consider asking respected members of the local community.
Collecting Information
Following on from the last thing mentioned in the previous section, before you work with a contractor it’s a good idea to ask people locally. Asking people locally can give you an opportunity to collect information about the contractor that you are intending on hiring. You should always know as much as possible about a contractor before you pay them so that if they do take any shortcuts or don’t complete the job properly, you can track them down and take legal action against them.
If you are planning on making repairs or renovations to your house, then you are probably going to hire a contractor. However, before you do you need to be sure that the one you are going to hire is qualified, experienced, and knows what they are doing. This post’s guidance will help you to ensure those things.
