Hiring a Contractor? Look Here First
As someone who averages 100 remodeling jobs a year, Woodbury, N.J., contractor Jay Cipriani is probably the best source for what to look for when you hire a professional to spend months in your house and to whom you will be handing over great quantities of money you probably had to borrow in some manner to pay for the work.
The first question you should ask is how long the contractor has been in business. Try to find one who has been in business for at least 10 years, because “95 percent of all contractors go out of business in three to five years,” Jay said, and you need a longer guarantee than that on the work. Included in the selection process should be references, but not simply lip service paid by someone who could be the contractor’s friend or relative. A lot of homeowners will try to get past the bad experiences once the remodeling job is complete, but you need to know if they kept to the job schedule, if it started on time and was finished on time, and, if not, why.
Did the contractor stay within budget? Are there any complaints against the contractor that have been lodged with the local Better Business Bureau or the state consumer affairs department? Where do they do their banking? From what sources do they obtain their materials? Check with the building inspector for recommendations, or, if the official will not offer suggestions, find out if there are contractors the inspector recommends not working with. Click here for more.
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