Fly-By-Night: “unreliable or untrustworthy, especially in business and financial matters.”
You should never settle for second best when choosing a team of home remodeling contractors to complete an unblemished project. When the time comes to put a significant amount of time into planning a home remodeling project, you want to avoid hiring a team of fly-by-night home improvement contractors.
Unreliable and/or untrustworthy home remodeling contractors possess several negative characteristics. They typically receive poor customer reviews, from one-star ratings on Yelp and Google to negative feedback posted on their Better Business Bureau (BBB) pages. Fly-by-night contractors also come under the scrutiny of government agencies ranging from local inspectors to federal regulators. They use inferior materials, as well as drag out projects that cost homeowners more money than they have budgeted for a project.
Although it is easy to detect a fly-by-night contractor, the question you should ask is how do I find a proven and highly-rated team of home remodeling contractors?
Experience
Experience matters when it comes to vetting a team of home remodeling contractors. However, the number of years established by a team of contractors is not as important as the quality of the work produced during that time. For example, just because a team of contractors has compiled 20 years of experience does not mean they are worthy of consideration to complete your home improvement project. When you consider experience, make sure to consider the experience amassed by the team of home remodeling contractors for the type of project you want completed.
For example, if you want to build one or more retaining walls, hire an experienced retaining wall contractor such as Mares & Dow.
Cost Is Not Everything
Creating a budget for a home remodeling product requires consideration of costs such as labor and materials. Fly-by-night home remodeling contractors typically try to outbid competitors by presenting the most affordable quote. If you select a fly-by-night team of home remodeling contractors, the money that you save today might come back to haunt you down the road. From shoddy work to failing to meet government code guidelines, you can quickly find your home improvement project bleeding red ink because you hired a team of fly-by-night home remodeling contractors.
Proper Professional Credentials
Fly-by-night home remodeling contractors cut corners, such as not earning the right type of professional credentials to complete home improvement projects. Before you vet a team of contractors by discovering the extent of experience and reviewing a cost estimate proposal, ensure the contractors under consideration have earned the proper professional credentials. Home remodeling contractors should follow the criteria established by organizations like the Building Industry Association (BIA) and Certified Graduate Remodeler (CGR).
Acquire Professional References
Reading online reviews and discovering the rating handed out by the BBB provides you with insight into a team of home remodeling contractors. However, to gain more accurate insight, every candidate on your list should provide three professional references, and not just any three professional references. You should know at least one of the professional references to build trust and credibility.
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