It’s inevitable that once you own a home you are going to have to have repairs and upgrades carried out sooner or later, and it’s important that you know that you are hiring the correct contractors to carry out the work. This quick guide will assist you in some of the things you should know to check before picking the right people.
Make Sure It’s The Correct Professional For The Job
Sometimes you can find that it’s possible to get a number of different types of people to do a job for you. One good example of this kind of thing is where you get general handymen who will basically turn their hand to anything that’s asked of them, This can be fine for basic or low skilled work and can even save you a bit of money, but it’s also important to consider that some jobs it is worth the extra expense to pay for a dedicated professional to ensure the job is done right, a general worker may be able to hang a door but it’s likely a carpenter will do a neater job.
Use Recommendations
One sure way of weeding out disreputable tradespeople is to check recommendations. The best way to do this is to ask people you know in real life and if a friend or relative has had work done and is happy then you can’t get better than this. But if you can’t find a personal recommendation then you can check a whole range of online reviews, and these are readily available on sites like Google and Facebook.
Check Their Credentials
For certain work it is vital for workers to be licensed and suitably qualified as this can be a safety issue if you don’t pay attention to this. You wouldn’t want to get a new boiler installed and then find out later on that it’s leaking gas into the home, so use a licensed plumber to avoid this kind of thing.
Ask For Examples Of Previous Work
If a contractor is unwilling to show you examples of their previous work then this can be considered a big red flag as you’ve got to wonder what they are hiding? But for those that do show you their previous work then it might be a good idea to look for work that is similar to your property and the type of work you would like done.
Be Sure Not To Pay Up Front
One other bad sign is a contractor that is too keen to get paid early, especially if they ask for money up-front, as you have to wonder then why they are so hard up that they cannot function without being paid before they even do anything. Also if you have already paid then you have less leverage if you are unhappy with the work and the contractor has no real motivation to finish on time as they are already paid.
