TIPS

How to Choose a Contractor

There are bad contractors that exist in this industry. Contractor’s who dilute with too much water or do not have the right equipment, etc. 

  "The low bid is not always the right one to choose"
 
"It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money--that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot--it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better." 

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A Contractor should have experience. 
Any contractor should be able to provide a list of jobs done over the last 1-3 years which you can go and see. This is a great way to see if the contractor’s claims of superiority are true. Any good contractor can give a list of references with his quote and will want you to check out his work. Be careful though, even bad contractors have friends that will vouch for them.

The Contractor should provide good service.
An indication of this is how well you can communicate with the contractors. Do they return calls? How fast did they return the proposal from the time you called them? Many contractors will provide free consultations to estimate budget figures, prioritize repairs of properties, and so on.
 
And please if a contractor does a lot of leg work for you; consider this when considering the quotations. Also included in good service is providing barriers to block off the parking lot while the maintenance is being done. 

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