How to Find a Good Contractor

Home renovations can be very time-consuming and expensive. Ace Lumber can help! While planning and prep work can certainly cut down costs, finding the right contractor goes a long way to staying on time and on budget. Here are six tips for finding a good contractor:

Tip 1: Set your own goals and budget

It’s human nature to withhold a budget when pricing for a good or service is flexible, but having a general budget and vision is critical to finding the right contractor.

Good contractors are busy – really busy. Quite often, they’ll book jobs in advance, based on their schedule and on the potential profit to be made. For that reason, a contractor needs to know if you plan on spending a little or a lot on a small or big project.

By giving the contractor your ballpark budget and an overview of the job you want done, the contractor can discuss whether or not your goals and price points are realistic, and whether or not they have the ability to take on this sort of job (and when).

This is also a great first step for your finalized plan and budget. If all the contractors you approach express concern over an unrealistic expectation in terms of price, deadline or job requirements, it may require more research before proceeding.

Once you find a few potential contractors that are willing to complete your reno within your budget, you can move on to the next step.

Tip 2: Ask around for referrals

To interview potential contractors, you first need to find them. Start by asking your friends, family and neighbours for referrals. This step allows you to pre-vet any potential firms, as your personal connection probably also did their due diligence in trying to find a reputable contractor.

Tip 3: Research on Better Business Bureau site

Look up the contractor or company’s name in your local Better Business Bureau site. If listed, examine the rating, what other customers say and, if there are complaints, how those complaints were handled.

Tip 4: Online Research

Search the internet using the contractor’s name or company name. Quite surprisingly, contractors with a history of problems will pop up in your browser as soon as you start a search.

A word of caution, however; be wary of sites that offer ranks or reviews. While some are legitimate, many are either hacked and abused or utilize a business model where companies that pay for premium services often get better profiles, higher rankings and appear better in the site’s reviews.

Tip 5: Invest time in interviewing

Once you’ve narrowed down your list of potential contractors to two or three, it’s time to conduct interviews. Start with a phone interview. The goal is to assess how professional, courteous and responsive the contractor is when dealing with people over the phone. If this meets your standards, ask for an in-person interview. This is the step that will typically confirm who you want to work on your home renovation. Ask questions about previous jobs; ask this person to give insight, a ballpark budget and timeline for your renovation job.

Once this person leaves, they will prepare an official budget and schedule. This process can often take hours out of the contractor’s work day, so only ask for this document if you are really serious about hiring the person.

Tip 6: Ask for a portfolio and referrals

Since the contractor will need a bit of time to prepare a detailed budget and schedule, you can spend that time doing the final review of this contractor by checking their referrals. 

Ask to see their portfolio and ask them for past-client references. The contractor should have both on hand and be more than happy to share their successes with you.