Six Guidelines To Note In Hiring A Contractor

Six Guidelines To Note In Hiring A Contractor

By Austin Manuel

Securing the services of a good contractor is the key to a successful building project. Regardless of the type of project, be it a house, office or an even larger project; the contractor you select will decide or shape the outcome of your original plan.

It’s the contractor you hire that will be the determinant of whether your construction projects will be successful or a failure. Making the wrong choice in hiring a contractor can lead to delays, sub-par work, and even legal complications. Basically, the most important aspect of searching and hiring the best professional is their quality of service. Good quality service should not be compromised or taken for granted. Hiring the best professional will result in a high-quality finished product; one that you can be proud to own and live in.

Getting the appropriate contractor for your job will ascertain the quality and timeliness of the work, and the amount of emotional and financial strain you’ll have to deal with. Although there are a large number of highly skilled contractors, there are just as many who do not live up to the assertions made about themselves or companies.

There are difficulties encountered when looking for a good, dependable and reliable contractor.  You have to be aware of what to look for, so as to avoid hiring an under-qualified contractor. To make sure you will get the best work from a contractor, below are qualities to look out for in hiring a contractor.

Six Guidelines To Note In Hiring A Contractor

1. It is important for you to be certain that the contractor you will hire is a registered builder. A license is evidence that the company has met with the necessary conditions demanded by relevant regulating agencies such as the Nigerian Institute of Builders.

2. Vetting of Qualifications.

Take out time to confirm licenses and documents before making any hiring decisions. Check with relevant regulating agencies to be sure your proposed contractor’s license is valid and in good standing.

3. If you hire a contractor that is not trustworthy, principled, devoted and consistent, your construction project is likely to turn into an unpleasant experience. To avoid this, make sure that you talk to the contractor’s references about how the contractor’s reliability was during previous projects. Perhaps you are neither satisfied nor comfortable with the reports from references about the reliability of a potential contractor; you should source a more suitable candidate.

4. Practical Knowledge (Experience).

Years of experience of the contractor? This is necessary because it usually takes three to five years to establish a financially-successful and stable company.  The longer experience a contractor has, the wiser and smarter decisions he can make regarding the conceptualization, management, and implementation of your building project because they must have learned valuable lessons and methods from difficulty encountered over years of experience that enable them to produce superb results.

5. Competitive Pricing (Reasonable Price).

Your contractor’s rates can be an excellent gauge of their expertise. If a bid or estimate price or quotation is extremely low, the quality of the contractor is most likely to be substandard. However, an extremely high bid or high estimate is not a guarantee of above-average quality. Majority of the best contractors, bids or quotations fall in the middle. The best way to find a reasonable price range for your project is to obtain bids from a good number of experienced contractors. Once you have these bids or estimates, you can find your optimal price range by comparison of different quotations to the contractors’ reputation.

Note: The lowest bid is not always the best; it may indicate that a contractor uses substandard materials or is desperate for work.

6. Personality

The personality will play a major role in work cooperation with your contractor. This may not be the most important factor of the contractor you hire, but should not be overlooked and taken it into consideration. If you hire a contractor that has a personality which clashes with yours, there will be zero cooperation. You will be communicating with your contractor quite a bit, and if you cannot stand them, your building project is going to be an unpleasant experience. To avoid this, you should try to hire a contractor that you are compatible with. The best way to determine if a contractor’s personality is the right fit for your job is to ask how comfortable they are with customer involvement

Austin Manuel is the MD/CEO of NUE-TECH Roof Tiles. NUE-TECH Roof Tiles is a world-class Nigerian roofing company based in Nnewi Anambra State. Neu-Tech Roof Tiles is one of the Top Roof Tiles leading brand in the South-Eastern part of Nigerian and is currently running a promo which offers 10% discount for every purchase. Offer last until December 1^st, 2019. Call 08035402733 for more inquiries.