Lessons Learned | 5 tips for selecting a contractor

Unfortunately contractors don't always have the best reputation for integrity and follow through. One of our recent clients learned that the hard way. Instead of being left with a beautifully finished basement, the contractor he selected left him with an incomplete project, a drained bank account and many sleepless nights worrying about how he would ever fix the situation. Tom was able to come in after the fact and complete the project and hopefully redeem a frustrating and stressful situation, but we still felt terrible that he had such a bad experience with the first guy he hired to do the job. .

Here are five important things we learned from our client's bummer of an experience:

1. References are important. The guy who ripped off our client had references, but they weren't verified. Word of mouth recommendations are huge in this industry for a reason. ​
2. Subcontractors can be a nightmare too, so it's good to find out who they are before they come into your home. Our client had to kick drunk subcontractors out of his house. Needless to say, they didn't do great work while they were there!
3. Sometimes bad contractors show their true colors on social media. When we looked up this particular shady contractor on Yelp, he obviously had stock photos shown instead of real photos of his work. He also used some of the work he did at our client's house on his Facebook page in a manner that didn't reflect the atrocious job was actually completed. For better or worse, we live in a digital age. Before spending a ton of money with someone, investigate their online presence for anything that seems a little "off".
4. You get what you pay for. Especially in this industry, the cheapest often isn't the best. There may be exceptions to that rule but if an estimate comes in drastically lower than others received, you could be headed for trouble. It's not cheap to deliver a quality product!
5. Discrepancies need to be addressed before payments are made. Our client is a super nice guy and gave his contractor the benefit of the doubt. He continued paying him a draw even when work wasn't being completed as promised or in the timeline he expected. Insist on great communication from anyone you hire and only pay them when they have done the work they promised to do.

Finding a contractor who does quality work and thoroughly communicates during the process might be tough but it's worth it. While there are a lot of shady folks in this industry, there are an equal number of great people doing great work. Don't settle for anything less!

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Bunn & Sons Home Renovations provides kitchen and bath remodeling, basement finishing and custom projects in the Broomfield, Louisville, Lafayette and other North Denver Metro areas.  Contact Tom at tom@bunnandsons.com or 303.507.5408 for more information.