There’s no getting around it: home improvement projects can be a lot to manage. That doesn’t make them not worth it, of course! The right home improvement projects can make your home a much more pleasant place to live and correct some niggling frustrations you have with your living space. They can also add significantly to your home’s value, which you can potentially benefit from if you ever sell.
If you’d like to get through your home improvements with as little stress as possible, there’s one thing you want to make sure you have before you start on any major projects: a great contractor. In this article, we’ll look at why a good contractor is so important and how you can find a great contractor near Phoenix, AZ.
Why Is It Important to Have a Great Contractor in Phoenix, AZ?
Many people think they can handle home improvement projects on their own or get a family friend to do it—or just go with the cheapest offer. This might save money in the short term, but in the long term, it can be a big mistake. Here are just some of the reasons it’s important to have a reliable, professional contractor working on your home improvement projects.
Expertise and Quality Workmanship
Doing it right the first time means you don’t need to waste time on a second round. Good contractors are experienced; they’ve done it all before and know how to handle even tough projects. They’ll avoid shoddy work that needs to be retouched sooner instead of later.
Knowledge of Regulations and Legal Issues
Do you know all of the permits you need for a project or when you need to contact, say, a utility company that operates gas lines near your property? Probably not—but a veteran contractor does.
Accurate Cost Estimates
If you’ve ever done a minor home project yourself, you know that it can often take much more time than you anticipated. A great contractor in Phoenix, AZ, can give a much more reliable estimate for the time and money their work will cost since they’ve handled this before.
After-Sales Support
If your buddy helps you build a patio and it turns out to be unstable, you likely don’t have much recourse legally to force them to fix it. Reputable contractors stand by their work, and if it turns out it’s not up to par, they can offer some after-sales support similar to a warranty.
Saving Time, Money, and Stress
As mentioned before, it might be tempting to cut costs in the short term. But spending half the money on a project by having an amateur do it might just wind up costing you more when it doesn’t last as long as a professional contractor’s high-quality work. In the long term, doing it right the first time will save you a headache and money.
So, how can you find this great contractor?
How to Find a Great Contractor in Phoenix, AZ
Here are five ways to find the best Phoenix contractor for your remodeling projects.
Research and Gather Recommendations
This can be through any number of channels. Most contractors will have an online presence that you can check out—Google reviews, Yelp, and the like. You can also seek recommendations from friends or family members who have done similar projects and look on social media groups for your city. Doing your research is a vital first step in finding a skilled contractor.
Verify the Contractor’s Credentials and Experience
A reputable contractor will be more than willing to help you ensure they have all necessary licenses, insurance coverage, and so on. This is a great opportunity to ask what other projects of this type and scope they’ve worked on, and if you want, you can even contact prior clients for an appraisal of the contractor and the work they did.
Conduct Interviews
At this point, you should have a solid shortlist of potential contractors for your project. Now, you should talk to them like you would if you were hiring someone for your business. You should evaluate their knowledge, how they talk about prior projects they’ve worked on, as well as simply get to know them. Do they seem professional? Alternatively, can you see them being difficult to work with on major, expensive projects? These things are critical to understand before you start paying a contractor thousands of dollars.
Solicit Detailed Bids
Once you’ve narrowed things down to your favorite contractors from the interviews, you should request detailed bids. These should include costs, materials, timeline for the project, and any schedules for the payment. This is also a great place to discuss what subcontractors, if any, the contractor will be using for their work. After all, few contractors are large enough to have every field of expertise on hand, and you want to make sure that the subcontractors will be equally as skilled and trustworthy. Are these subcontractors people the contractor has worked with before? How did that go?
Note that you shouldn’t always just go for the lowest bid. Obviously, you want to save money, but sometimes, if something looks too good to be true, there’s a good chance that it is. If one of the bids is significantly lower than the others, ask yourself why that is. You can even bring it up to the other contractors, whether they’ll match the price or point out something fishy.
Trust Your Gut
At the end of the day, while it’s important to compare things like bids and other concrete numbers, your instincts matter. If you think someone seems like an upstanding, trustworthy professional—or the opposite—that’s something to keep in mind.
If you’re looking for top-class contracting in the Phoenix, AZ, area, it’s time to talk to JMG Contracting. We’re one of the Phoenix area’s most trusted contractors for a reason. Get a quote from us today, and you’ll never want to work with any other contractor in Phoenix, AZ, ever again.