Choosing the Right Contractor

Choosing the right contractor to renovate your home does not need to be hard. If you take the time to follow the steps below you will be able to find a great contractor who can help you achieve your goals, and at a price that is reasonable.

But before we even get into that let’s quickly look at what a contractor does.

What does a contractor do?

The contractor meets with you to discuss your vision for a project, and then works to turn that vision into a reality. They do this by hiring the right labourers, pulling all of the permits that are needed, and organizing when each worker needs to go into the job site to make sure the work is happening as efficiently as possible. They ensure that the work is being done to a high standard and that there are not any mistakes that an untrained eye might miss.

Contractors usually make their money by charging between 10-20% of the total cost of the job (including supplies and labour). When you receive a quote from a contractor the mark-up will already be added in.

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How to find contractors

The Internet

Kijiji, Craigs List, Angies List, and many other sites have pages for contractors to post ads saying that they are available for hire. Many of these pages show pictures of previous jobs that have been worked on, and you can get a basic understanding of the contractor.

There are a many great ways to find contractors, especially with the ease of the internet.

You can also google for contractors in your city and find the websites of contracting companies. Contracting companies usually charge a bit more for their work, and usually have multiple projects on the go, but they became bigger for a reason. You can be confident that when hiring a contracting company that work will be done to the quality that you want.

Referrals

This is my preferred way to find good contractors (and just workers in general). Talk to people that you know and trust about their experiences. If friends and family have not done this before, then your realtor will have suggestions that he can give.

In the last house that my wife and I built, the contractor that we ended up hiring was a referral from our home inspector (who was referred to us by our realtor).

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How to select the right contractor

Get multiple quotes

This is the big one people. There is nothing more important in the entire process of finding the right contractor than this. When I was last looking for a contractor I was amazed at the variance between the cost, expertise, and quality of work between the multiple contractors that I connected with.

I would make sure that you get quotes from a minimum of 3 separate contractors. Doing this will help you learn more about them, and it may also give you other ideas on how a renovation can be done.

Ask your contractors for references from previous clients. Some questions that are worth asking are; “How close was his initial quote to the final price?”, “How accurate was the project timeline that was quoted?”, and “would you recommend this contractor to your friends?”

See if you can visit previous projects. At the very least, look at pictures of the jobs that your contractor has done.

Have they done a legal suite before?

Adding a legal suite to your home has increased regulations in comparison to building or renovating a regular home. Make sure that the contractor you are working with has worked on a legal suite, or make sure that you are well versed in the codes of your city.

Get to know the contractor

It seems kind of silly to say this, but it is really important that you like working with your contractor. You will be working alongside this person for the next few months and you will want to make sure that their working style matches your own.

How hands on do you plan on being during this project?

If you want as little involvement as possible then it is worth making sure that the person you work with is a competent informer, and is able to send you updates on the work that is being done. You need to be confident that this person is very details oriented and will hold his workers to a very high standard.

If you are a bit more like me, and enjoy visiting the site to see what is being done, and being a bit more hands on you should make sure that your contractor is ready to deal with that. Many contractors do not always enjoy having the homeowner drop by asking questions or pointing out issues (by the way, if you see issues, always point them out).

Nothing like surprise visits with the whole family

It is vital that you don’t just hire a good contractor, but that you hire a contractor that is good for you.

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How many other jobs are they working on right now?

I have seen a project with a 3 month quotation turn into a 6 month reality because of contractors that are working on too many different jobs and can’t be organized enough to get them all done on time.

Ideally your project will be the only one that your contractor will be working on. The reality though is that something like a basement renovation is usually less lucrative than building an entire house, and some contractors will take on between 2-5 projects at a time.

If your contractor is taking on multiple projects, be sure that they are very organized, and look for some form of guarantee from them if they go over their quoted time.

Price isn’t everything

At the end of the day, the price is important, but not at the sacrifice of the quality of the work that is being done. The highest quote does not mean the highest quality, just like the lowest quote does not mean the work is shoddy.

Many contractors started working in a certain construction field and may be able to complete tasks on their own without hiring it out. This can save them money, and they pass those savings onto you.

Conclusion

The most important thing to take from this article is that getting multiple quotes is a must. Spend time getting to know the contractors that you are thinking you want to work with, and do your due diligence to make sure that they meet the standards that you have, and that you will survive (and maybe even enjoy) the next few months of working with them.

We hope that you have found this article helpful. As always, feel free to leave comments below, and please share this article with your friends.

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161 thoughts on “Choosing the Right Contractor”

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