Hiring a Contractor or Service Professional

The Service Guide would like to provide you with tools, information, and words of wisdom that will enable you to achieve the most effective customer ~ contractor relationships!

When you hire contractors and other service professionals, the effectiveness of your relationship with them has the strongest impact on the ultimate success of your home projects . Our surveys showed us unconditionally, that COMMUNICATION IS THE BIGGEST CULPRIT! Both customers, like you, as well as hosts of service contractors concurred ~ communication was the most difficult to get right!

We recommend a number of things to take on as regular practice whenever hiring out specific jobs, or projects. By putting your efforts towards these steps, we think you will have a much better chance at getting that "communication" right!

Obtain at least four different estimates (depending on the project or job). Be up front with all four of them letting them know that you are getting four different opinions and estimates. It’s fair to let them know where they stand from the beginning. Having that knowledge from you may or may not alter their proposals, but you probably have a better chance of obtaining more competitive bids as a bi-product of your honesty.

Prepare a checklist of information that you want to be sure you tell all of the contractors you have arranged to meet with. This helps ensure consistency with each one, and helps make sure nothing is left out.

Include everything on your checklist that you can think of, even if you think it could be interpreted as unnecessary! This is really important! Never assume that anyone will know what you mean! Spell out everything and clearly! Contractors will appreciate as much information as possible. They do not want to guess what you mean, let alone, guess wrong!

Communicating your expectations to each contractor is key! You can bet that every customer a contractor deals with is very different! Contractors reading this are probably nodding their heads, "Yup!" Be specific about what you expect…. Cleanliness, promptness, clean lines when painting, meticulous attention to detail, knowledge of their schedule, you like to be kept informed, etc. Communicating YOUR specific standards, and anything specific about YOU, is fair and important to share with each contractor you meet with. They will be assessing what will be required of them to accommodate you. So, give them what they need to do that most effectively. You will come out much farther ahead by providing this important information! Click here   for an example of a checklist you can leave with each contractor you meet with.

Evaluate all your estimates carefully. Take your time doing so, as this is an important decision! Your gut reaction may be just what it is cracked up to be! Consider what it is telling you strongly!

Narrow down your choices to whichever one(s) make you the most comfortable. Eliminate any that you have doubts about. Contact those you wish to continue considering and ask for at least four references. Be sure to ask for references who can speak to the same kind of work you would be hiring them for, i.e. if you are hiring someone to paint the inside of your house, their references should have hired that contractor to have painted the inside of their house. Many contractors are multi-talented and come with a myriad of skills. Make sure you are talking apples to apples. It will pay off in the long run.

Call all references! We view this as a crucial step many people tend to skip. These calls can hold a lot of value to you in merely gaining information that could help you get to know your contractor better. Contractors expect this, and most of them already have lists ready to give you. These calls could lend valuable insight into how to better create that effective "working partnership!" Eliminate surprises! Take the time to speak candidly about your own expectations with others who have already hired the contractor you are considering. Don’t skip this and wish you hadn’t later! Use of a standardized form can help ensure the same kind of consistency with each call. For an example, click here. 

Make sure you have a genuine comfort level after your calls. You probably will, especially after receiving reassurance from the references. But, if you don’t, you should start over and get four more estimates from four different professionals.