| Never Get Three Free Estimates
The Only Way To Hire A Contractor
by: Dale Adams
Everywhere you go everybody always gives you the same advice on how to
choose a contractor. They simply say get three estimates, and call the
Better Business Bureau. There is a much better way to hire a contractor
to ensure you get what you want; a quality job at a fair price. Don’t
get three estimates.
Basically most people including contractors are fair and honest. They
want to perform a service for you and get paid so they can provide for
their family just as you need to provide for yours. Why everybody
assumes and implies that contractors in general are swindlers simply
isn’t fair or correct.
You may hear on the news that a homeowner lost a substantial amount of
money from a corrupt contractor. What you don’t hear about is the other
thousands of contractors providing good quality work on a daily basis.
The advice of getting three estimates for every job is bad advice. What
most people will do when they get three estimates is to naturally choose
the lowest bid. A few are enlightened and will choose the average bid,
versus the highest or the lowest. But either way, having three
contractors come do a free estimate for you leads to bad service for
everybody.
A contractors time is very valuable just as yours is. Now when you get
an estimate and inform this contractor that you are going to get three
bids, you are implying that his ethics may be lacking, which isn’t very
nice. You have also put a lot of pressure on him because he needs the
work to feed his family and keep his employees working. Naturally he is
going to give you the lowest bid he can to ensure he gets the job. In
turn the other two contractors that follow him are going to need the job
also. So depending on how desperate they are for work will depend how
low they will bid to get this job. This constant form of playing
cutthroat with their competitors leads them to underbid jobs just so
they have work.
After they lose money on a job they are even more desperate to get the
next job. What this does is leads contractors into financial problems
and it leads to bad service, not being able to do the job correctly and
a lot of stress for them. This can cause even a man with the sturdiest
ethics to lose his footing. He will want to perform a quality job as
agreed but when he doesn’t have any money to pay his employees or to buy
materials he simply can’t do it.
If everybody always has three free estimates performed then it takes the
contractors away from supervising their employees on your job site. You
made a contract with him, and he is whom you will want to communicate
with during the job. If he is off giving free estimates and not able to
watch his employees, the quality of the job may suffer. In addition if
an employee gets hurt, a water pipe breaks, or they run out of supplies
the job will stop right there. All in all, insisting on three estimates
does everybody a disservice and leads to unhappy people, including you.
Somehow people get the idea that contractors make a lot of money. I was
a contractor and I know that is not correct. It is a very competitive
business and it isn’t hard to lose a substantial amount of money very
quickly.
The best way to hire a contractor is via word of mouth. If you need some
work done and you see a contractors sign in a yard, stop and talk to
him. Look at his project, the safety measures, his employees, the
quality of his tools and the quality of his work. Talk to the owner and
see if he is pleased with the work. Call the Better Business Bureau and
ask about this contractor. The BBB can be circumvented because they
register contractors by their phone number. With cell phones, unethical
contractors can change their business name, get a new cell phone number
and place a new ad in the newspaper. So check to see if their phone
number is a home phone number or a cell phone. It is always better to
locate a contractor in the phone book, if you don’t go by word of mouth.
Once you have located a contractor that you deem does the quality work
you want done, ask for an estimate. Tell him you would like the estimate
to be itemized with the materials and labor separate.
A good rule of thumb for estimates is that the labor will be double the
amount of materials. A smaller job will be more for labor.
When he brings a contract ask him to also bring his insurance binder
that certifies he has current liability insurance. If he requires a down
payment inform him that you would prefer to make the first payment after
a fair amount of work has been done. If he has a problem with that and
indicates any sign of financial trouble you may want to rethink your
choice. Before you sign the contract get a verbal or written agreement
from him that he will be on site during the job.
If you take these steps your experience with a contractor will be
pleasant. Do your part and recommend the good contractor to your
friends. Never get three free estimates. This same advice to protect you
against consumer fraud is the cause of the problem
About The Author
Dale Adams formed Majestic Publishers and is the author of this new
book; “Care Giving Made Easy - How to be an Awesome Caregiver.” To learn
more valuable information visit
http://www.majesticpublishers.com
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