Deciding to hire a general contractor can be a daunting task, and it’s imperative that you choose the right one for you. It can start a great business relationship, but it can also be a stressful situation if you don’t ask the right questions beforehand. It’s important for you and your contractor to be communication constantly throughout the entire process so you both can ensure everything goes smoothly and done in the allotted time. With Rutherford construction, we have no problems answering any questions or concerns you might so you can make the best and most well-informed decision. Here are just a few questions you should keep in mind to ask! How Much Experience Do You Have? And Where? This is important for obvious reasons, but asking up front how long a company has been in business is one of the first ways you can separate good from bad potential experience. If they’re a company that has been around for a long time but is new to the area, they might not know how to handle the local building codes perfectly just yet. Going with a company that’s been a longtime mainstay in the area your project is based in always your best bet. What Do You Specialize In? You might find a general contracting company, but need a specific set of skills or access to subcontractors to get the job done just right. It’s always in your best interest to ask a company what their speciality is, and based your decision based more on that than pricing. If they’re experts in the exact type of project you’re looking to complete, they’ll probably be the best ones to get the job done. Are You Licensed? There’s plenty of certification and years of training that go into acquiring a license, and this ensures that the company will know what it’s doing. If they are an unlicensed company, don’t hire them; no matter how good the price is. You might end up paying more for mistakes made later on down the line if they were not properly trained to do the job correctly. Can I Have An Itemized Estimate? Requesting this will help you to see exactly where your money is going and figure out what the most expensive parts are. Seeing that will assist in figure out what parts you can do without, or swap with cheaper but still high quality alternatives. You might not be able to make any changes without affecting the outcome of your project, but it’s important to lay it all out so it can at least be a discussion. This is also a good time to ask how long the project will take based on the breakdown of the estimate. How Is Payment Handled? It’s important to find out exactly how the payment situation is going to work before you sign the contract. Will there be a deposit required and does it go to your final costs? What methods do they accept and will they provide all the necessary receipts and other required documentation after it’s been paid for? These are all things you’d need to know ahead of time for your own peace of mind. Who Will Be At The Job Site? And How Often? Finding out who will be in charge of the job site is imperative because you’ll want to make sure it’s someone with plenty of experience handling these types of jobs already. Also, find out just how often they will be present so you know that the safety and progress of the whole operation is being well monitored and taken care of at all times. Request to meet whoever the project manager is designated to be long before the start of your project so you can find out any questions you might have about the day-to-day operations of the job site. For more information about our contractor services for, call us at 1-800- 972-6794