For starters, not one of these 9 essential questions to ask your contractor is a basic one like:
“Do you have a license and insurance?”
or
“What’s your warranty?”
Those type of questions are important, and verification should be attained, but unless you’re hiring someone off of your neighbor’s couch or from your local Home Depot parking lot(that’s on YOU!) every legit company will easily be able to prove they have these prerequisites. Let’s go a little DEEPER with this one!
Those are for an article by another writer who is not in the field every day, observing human short comings and seeing shoddy work. That article is written by people who aren’t fielding the calls about “leaky showers” and “failed floors”.
I am.
I also have been blessed with access to a group of other professional tile installers, through social media. I’m talking about the top guys from throughout the country, and a couple have been kind enough to give me some of their “contractor questions.” They are also in the field every day observing and categorizing the failures, the scams and the cheaters. They too, want to help empower you!
My goal also, (as always) is to help you get an incredible finished remodeling project with the least amount of stress and anxiety.
SO,
Before you hire any re modeler, contractor, builder, tile guy, sheet rocker, ANY ONE who works in your home, ask them these questions and see what their responses are. You’ll get a grand insight into their over all mindset. Their answers will help you determine if they are someone you want to hire.
Also, if you ask these questions, and they answer in a way you desire, YOU CAN HOLD THEM TO IT DURING THE JOB!
HERE WE GO:
Who performs the work at my home?
Many companies have sales people or the owner acts as the sales person and they have multiple sub contractors or employees. Those are the people you want to vet. The people who will be performing the work.
Often, someone will come and sell you a job, everything seems great, then they send a bunch of shady characters to do the work. Yeah, you get a guarantee from the guy selling the job, but if he’s unethical, greedy, or just generally doesn’t have GREAT character, you’re out of luck when something goes south.
The guys on the ground are the front line troops in a construction company. LABOR, much more important then we give it credit for.
To me, compatibility and comfort with the workers is just as important as compatibility with the sales guy or GC. Ease of communication is just as important with them, as it is with the GC. The GC or sales person might be great, but it’s important to determine if that culture spreads throughout the company, from the top down. Ask if there will be a PERMANENT on site project manager! Someone experienced in leadership, management and communication. Not a person who does the daily “check in” and leaves.
The next question:
2. What accreditation/certifications have you or your company pursued?
This shows that continuing ed and being active and aware within their trade is important to them. How people train their employees is very important. If the labor isn’t on the same page as the management or the owner, you may have problems. What good is it to have an experienced, conscientious owner, with every subordinate doing their own thing? I’ve seen it many times!
When you hire Hamilton Tile, for example, you will get a similar finish whether Jason or I do the work because Jason trained me, I follow his methods and we are both certified installers.
A good answer to this question would be, “We are members of the National Tile Contractors Association, we attend their classes and we are also Certified Tile Installers.” Construction is CONSTANTLY changing, so staying up on the latest trends and procedures is vital. Certifications/accreditation is one way to make sure the company you’re looking to hire is legitimate and professional.
If they work with many subs:
3. How long have you been working with your sub contractors.
I’ve been asked more times then I can count to work short notice by different general contractors. They don’t know me, they didn’t research me, they were looking for a warm body. That type of short notice recruiting is common among “builders”. You want a general contractor that has established relations with their subcontractors. It’s a bad sign if a General contractor can’t keep people around and if he’s constantly recruiting new people! Of course, they can LIE about this question, but you’ll be forming a relationship with the labor, and you’ll inform the contractor of that…so feet will be held to the fire.
4. Do you have a company motto?
This gives a lot of insight into a companies’ culture and belief system. An outfit that has a motto generally tries to live up to that motto. Get the elevator pitch! DEMAND this level of professionalism.
5. How many jobs do you run at the same time?
I’ve seen many people get burnt by a company running many jobs at the same time, and THEIR job is shuffled around and not prioritized. We believe in one job at a time, because that job gets our full undivided attention. If a company is running multiple jobs, there may be periods when nothing gets done at your job and in my opinion, the more spread out a company is, the less attention and precision you will get!
6. Do you have an internet presence? Do you content market?
This is a big one to me. People who take pride in their work, show their work. You want to see evidence of them performing the work and some degree of documentation as to what their day looks like. Your eyes and your ears are the best for detecting legitimacy. The internet is a way for us to verify what we’re going to get before contractors start their work and I recommend you trust your senses.
The internet has opened a world of knowledge and allowed for greater transparency in 2020, it’s your GREATEST resource! REQUIRE CONTENT out of people that work at your house.
Browse the web and look for a history. Look for interaction with other trades people, like in their comment sections. Are the interactions positive or negative? Do the other trades people praise your potential hire’s work or denigrate it?
Does the tradesman have photos and videos of them PERFORMING the work? Great reviews? Video or audio with them talking about their work and their over all mindset?
7. Who is your ideal customer?
Jason was asked this by an interviewer recently and he came with an answer immediately. “If you care about how your project is built, we want to work for you.” That’s a great answer and is, indeed, our target market. People who think in these terms are serious professionals and not someone that’s just bouncing from job to job, not caring about what they’re doing. THOUGHTFULNESS is a quality you want in a contractor. If they give you an answer that doesn’t fit with how you think, maybe re-evaluate the hire!
8. What do you do to ensure my project is going to last and also function the way it should?
That’s the whole point here. Why have anything done at your house if you have to re-do it in 5 years. Get yourself a PLAN OF ATTACK. Get yourself an explanation about their methodology. Maybe get into some technical details. Have the recruit talk detail.
A good answer:
“We ensure your project is going to last because we follow ANSI standards and also install according the TCNA hand book.”
9. If there is a problem or I have a complaint, how do you handle that? Can you give me an example of a time you had a complaint and what you did to take care of it?
There is going to be problems inevitably on a project. Things can go south quick at that point. Ask for an example of a time the company had an issue. Ask for specifics about how it was resolved.
I always push: COMPATIBILITY OVER PRICE. COMPATIBILITY OVER ALL ELSE.
You want to be on the same page with the people that work in your home, you want to verify that they care, and that they know what they’re talking about. Most of all, you want to make sure you’re going to get something aesthetically pleasing, functional and lasting when they leave your house.
These questions help you determine an OVERALL MINDSET of the person or company you are recruiting. Think CONCEPTUALLY.
If you’re dealing with great men and women of good character who are professional, detail oriented, conscientious, methodical, thorough, ethical, etc. You’ll have nothing to worry about. These questions will help you determine if your potential contractor possesses these essential qualities.