Hiring a building company or a contractor is an essential part of renovating or building a new house. They are the ones doing all the heavy work. A good contractor will be able to make your ideas into reality. But a bad contractor will only be a source of problems. But how would you know if your contractor could do the job? Here are some signs that your contractor isn’t the one for you.
They Don’t Give Your Clear Information.
When you are paying someone a lot of money, you want to know where exactly that money is going. If your contractor is unable to tell you about the details you ask them, then something is wrong. The early signs of this problem often come up when you ask them for a full estimate of the project costs. A good contractor would have a detailed breakdown of labor, materials, and equipment costs with you in a few days. This will have all the expenses laid out, along with the reasons for them. When your contractor says that it will cost you a specific amount, without explaining the reason and without a paper proof of his estimate, then you should be careful. Your potential contractor might be planning to cheat you.
More alarm bells should be ringing when your potential contractor won’t let you visit their other work sites. Any good contractor will have one or two projects going on at any time. This allows you to see how exactly they work and whether you like what they are doing. Beware of contractors who have supposed pictures of worksite on their website. These can be fake. It is much better to see things for yourself.
They Will Not Commit
A good contractor knows what they are doing, and they will be confident about their skills. This means that when you ask them about how long it will take, they will usually give you a deadline that they will follow. Only something unexpected will stop them from meeting that deadline. If the contractor you are talking to is not a good one, they will hesitate to put a solid date. They will say a few weeks or months. They will also not be clear about what they will need to do. Their contracts will reflect this. You want a contractor who has a deadline and can tell you exactly what they will be doing for you.
The lack of commitment will be very obvious when they ask for unlimited time and materials. Their justification for this is that they will be giving you their best performance. But no legitimate contractor would give you that estimate.
They Are Slow To Respond
A red flag that will be obvious the moment you try and contact a contractor is their responsiveness. This is very important in your relationship with the contractor. Communication needs to be constant between you two and having a quick answer is essential. When you send them a message, they need to get in touch with you so you can discuss the project or give you an update. If they take too long to answer your calls when you are only planning to hire them, they might take even longer when they are working for you.
A good rule-of-thumb is that you should only give a potential contractor 24 hours to respond to your initial call or e-mail. If they take longer, they are too busy or not good at responding.
They Have Pushy Sales Tactics
It would be best if you were wary of any contractor that pressures you when it comes to seeking their services. High-pressure sales tactics are a sign that the contractor wants you to sign the contract without doing your due diligence. They will have their reasons for being pushy, but contractors that oversell themselves are very suspicious. They will also likely be asking for a down payment on their services.
Never give in to these tactics and consider going at your own pace. If your contractor is still pushy, then consider replacing them or choosing someone else to do the job. Construction projects should be slow and steady in execution. Anyone trying to hurry it up is not doing you any favor.
The right contractor will make your home building or renovation into a project of pure joy. Hiring the wrong team will see you lose money and result in a failed project. Ensure that you have the right people working for you by being alert to these red flags and evaluating each potential contractor properly.
