10 Things Every Home Owner Should Consider Before Doing Remodeling Work on Their Home
Longevity 95% of remodeling companies go out of business in the first 3 years of business. (Source: National Association of Homebuilders) Consider choosing an experienced, stable company.
Medical Bills. Most Buffalo homeowners’ insurance policies do not cover “workers compensation” or the cost to cover medical expenses and lost wages as a result of an injury while working on your home. Claims can exceed hundreds of thousands. To protect yourself, ask for a certificate of Workers Compensation Insurance from your prospective contractor, it just takes a phone call for the contractor to have one sent to you, and it is the only acceptable proof of coverage.
Protection and Cleanliness. Careless Buffalo contractors can leave dust and debris all over. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, it is reasonable to expect that steps will be taken to protect your home during the work. Ask about what will be done before the job. Ask the contractor’s referrals how clean the contractor was.
Where are you? Many contractors have a habit of leaving a job partway through to completion, to start other jobs. Again , ask former customers how their job was handled.
“How about this?” Trial and error is not the way to find out that the worker doesn’t have the right experience to do the job properly. Does the contractor have experience with the type of job to be done? How experienced are the workers that will be doing the job? And what is their experience with that particular type of work?
Warranty. How long is it, what is covered and not covered, will they actually support their warranty, and do they have a written policy on responding to warranty issues?
Liability insurance: 50% of contractors who say they have insurance do not actually have any insurance. No insurance means that any accidents during the job will impact your homeowners insurance. Again, ask for certificates of insurance, the contractor can have these sent to you with just a phone call.
Licensing- some towns and cities in the area require licensing . The purpose of licensing is to protect homeowners by ensuring that contractors meet minimum requirements. If the building inspector discovers that a job requiring licensing is being done by an unlicensed contractor, the job will be stopped and other serious consequences could result.
Security. Background checks and drug testing. Many contractors hire without adequate background checking. News accounts of the potential results abound.
The lowest price is not always the best price. Low price usually means low quality, and possibly hassles about additional charges after the job starts. Spend some time to understand what the contractor is including and not including with their proposal. You usually get what you pay for.
Call your Buffalo remodeling contractor today, to get the best price and best quality.
