Whenever you are hiring a subcontractor who will be doing work for you on your home, it is important to do your research to make sure that you are hiring the best person suited for the job. Following these simple steps will help ensure that you are doing the research and hiring someone who is trustworthy and a good worker.
When you are hiring someone who will be working on your project, you want to make sure that he is reliable, trustworthy and will do a good job. There are a few key steps you will need to follow in order to make sure that the person you are hiring is the right and best person for the job. If you do these things, you can be assured that you are hiring the right man for the job. You are spending your money so consider this one of the most important steps in the building project. The harder you work at this the more money and less future grief you save. Trust me on this as I have paid a fortune in my career for this tidbit of knowledge!
Finding good subcontractors is easy if you are willing to spend a few hours over a couple of days.
Try and get at least four names and numbers for each trade. Start by calling the local supply houses such as plumbing supply, electrical supply and lumber yards. Ask to speak with the contractor sales manager or lead sales rep and tell them what you are doing and ask for a few referrals of some of their customers. Another good source can be the local building inspector or building official. Keep digging until you reach the goal of four names for each trade. The internet is brilliant. There are many different websites out there that rate contractors, plumbers, handymen etc. You can also often find reviews about someone by searching for the name and city of the handyman. If you find negative reviews online, you should probably not use that person. This can be very handy and you can usually find a wealth of information on the Internet.
Once you have the names of several subs, you will want to call them yourself. Getting names is only a starting point. Talk to them and make sure that you feel comfortable with this person. While talking on the phone there are some important things to take note of. Does he sound confident in what you are asking him to do? Does he seem reliable? Is he willing to give you references of other people who he has done work for in the past? If you get a bad vibe from someone, it is best to cross him off of the list and move on the next candidate.
Call their references, this is one of the best ways to learn about someone that you are going to hire, by hearing from other people who he has worked for. Keep detailed notes and remember this is your money you are spending.
The goal now is to keep repeating this process until you find at least three subs for each trade that you feel good about. Then invite them to bid on your project. You need to get at very least three written bids for each trade. Anything less an you really won’t know what the middle ground cost for the project is. I will cover more on the bidding process later but this should give you a good idea on how to begin the bidding process for your project.