How to Choose a Contractor for Your Construction Job?

Answer 1

Ready to re-pave your driveway? Maybe you need a pathway laid down in your garden, or you have a more exciting, extravagant project like creating a Basketball court on your property. You’ll need a reputable, reliable paving contractor to get the job done. But, if you’ve not used one before, how do you know which one to choose? Here are some tips you can follow to make sue you hire the right paving professional.

Step 1: Ask friends and family for recommendations. If a friend or family member has contracted a paver to perform a similar task, then find out who they used and whether they had a positive or negative experience with them. That could make this a one-step process, because an endorsement from someone you trust might be all the information you need to make the right decision. But if you don’t know anyone who can recommend someone, then try step two.

Step 2: Search online and print directories for providers. Pick up your yellow pages or hop online and find some local providers that you can consider. Pick three or four, so that you have a good-sized candidate pool to choose from, in case further research proves that a couple aren’t worth working with.

Step 3: Ask potential providers for references. When you’ve found a few that you might like to contract, call them up and ask if they have satisfied clients who can offer solid recommendations of their work. Call up those references and ask about the service they received. Was the job completed on time? Did the company create any problems while they were doing the work? Was the pricing delivered as originally estimated? These are all important questions to ask up front, because they’re problems you don’t want to encounter once your job gets started.

Step 4: Get an estimate. Pick your final two providers and get estimates for your job. After researching companies and speaking to their references, you can be assured you’re going to get the quality service you expect and deserve. Now, it’s simply a matter of getting competitive price quotes so you can get the best value.

With price in hand, you’re ready to make your purchase decision. Thanks to the above steps, you can be confident in that decision, and in a few weeks you’ll be enjoying a new driveway, basketball court, or garden pathway.

Answer 2

If you have a construction job that needs to be completed in your home, there are a few things that you should know before you hire a contractor. You will want to make sure that you hire a reliable contractor that does quality work. You also want to ensure that you pay a fair price for the materials and labor.

Ask a few different contractors to come to your home to give you an estimate on your construction job. You may find that the prices vary widely between different companies. Ask how many employees will be working on your job, as one company may charge more because they may have more employees available to complete the job in a timelier manner. Find out about the quality of materials offered, as higher quality materials will obviously add more to your construction costs.

Be sure to get everything in writing before the job begins. You should have firm pricing, including labor and taxes on your written estimate. You should also ask for a firm completion date or your project may drag on if your contractor tries to work on too many jobs at once. Be sure to ask for a list of materials with pricing to be sure that you are not paying more for the job than necessary.

When it comes to negotiating pricing, be sure to ask for a better deal if you feel that you are not being offered fair pricing. Contractors will expect you to negotiate, so they always build between 10% and 20% of extra cost into their base price. Don't be afraid to ask them to match another contractor's price or time frame if you like one contractor better than another.

It is important that you find a contractor that you feel comfortable with when selecting a company to work on a project in your home. It may be worth your while to ask your friends and neighbors who they recommend for your specific job. In the end, you have to select the contractor that you feel will do the best job for you, so trust your instincts when selecting a contractor for your construction job.