How To Hire Contractors

If you own a home, you need to be able to hire the correct people to help you maintain, repair, and keep it looking beautiful. The simple act of maintaining your home can increase the value by as much as 10% when you get ready to sell. The good news is that you don’t have to hire every task done; many can be do-it-yourself projects. But what about when you have a more significant project and need to hire a contractor? We all know there are unethical people posing as contractors, so I’m putting together my tried and true list of ways to hire contractors.

What Are Contractors?

Contractors are people who specialize in repairing and installing specific parts of a home. For example, you would need to hire an electrician for electrical issues. For plumbing problems, hire a plumber. Need tile set? Hire a tile setter. Some contractors, such as electricians and plumbers, must have a license. Tile setters are required in a few states but not in Kentucky, where I live and operate. You must get a good contractor when you call a contractor for a specific task in your home.

A good contractor is someone who has been in business long enough to build up a reputation of clear ethics, clear communication, and high standards for how they treat others – employees and clients.

How To Hire Contractors

I’m about to share some ideas that are very “out of the box” for hiring contractors. However, these tactics have been working for me for years and years, so I hope they will work for you too!

Go Where They Buy

Going where they buy what they need for their trade is my favorite place to find contractors. Need a framer, go to a lumber yard. Need an electrician? Go to an electrical supply house. Need a plumber, go to a plumbing supply house. Need a tile setter, go to a tile specialty store (a store that only sells tile – NOT a flooring store that also sells tile). To find out where these places are, google “an electrical supply near me.” Once you find the store, you can do a couple of things. First, you can go between 7 – 8 a.m. and see tons of actual electricians picking up supplies they need for their day. During a less busy time of the day, you can approach the customer counter and ask an employee. I ask:

“Who are some of your regular electricians that have purchased from here for long time?”
“Is ___ a pretty good person? Is he someone you would hire to work on your home?”
“Does _____ have a good reputation?”

Note: I did not include big box stores on here. Please go to places that are not so apt to be cash and carry. The people who buy there generally have an account at supply houses, so they have to stay in good standing to purchase there. Or they are much more likely to buy from Lowes or Home Depot, which are mostly cash and carry.

Ask Your Banker

I find this works better in a smaller town. Even if you live in a larger city, if you have a good relationship with the tellers or branch managers at your local bank, ask them if they have any customers who make the trade you need. I trust that they wouldn’t give me the name of someone who wasn’t a good banking client. Still, to be sure, I would, after thanking them profusely for a contact name, I would throw up, “And they are a good business owner? They run a good business?”

Ask Only Savvy People For Referrals

I’m not a fan of asking on social media for a trade unless you are just desperate. And if you do that, you have to vet them exceptionally carefully. Instead, suppose you have a friend or family member who does a lot of home maintenance and home projects. In that case, that is an excellent person to ask for referrals. Whereas someone who recently remodeled their bathroom and it was their first project may not be the best to ask because they may not know what a good contractor or good work or a fair price looks like.

Tips And Reminders To Hire Contractors

To hire contractors to work in your home is no joke. First, they are coming into your home – around your family, pets, or small children – which adds a whole layer of gravitas. And they are working on your home, your largest asset! In other words, you can’t be too careful when hiring someone to work in and on your home. For this reason, over the years, I’ve developed a method for finding ethical contractors and running a good business by going where they shop, asking my local banker, and asking people who are really on top of home repairs for referrals.

Closing

The key thing I want you to take away from this blog post is that you can’t just hire (trust) anyone to come into your home and expect them to do top-notch work. It would help if you based your hire on something concrete. For me, that’s things like:

• do they have a long-standing account at a local supply house
• do they have a good relationship with the local bank
• are they a go-to source for savvy homeowners who have been maintaining and updating their homes for years?

I hope this information helps you hire contractors who does the best work on your home!  

For more free information on home remodeling, visit my blog. I want you to remodel your home without fear of being ripped off, going massively over budget, or having your home torn up for months.

If you are already working on a home remodel and need some friendly, honest advice on what to do next, sign up for my 1-on-1 coaching! For 30 minutes, I will answer any question about home remodeling and work as hard as possible to get you over whatever is hanging you up.