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Having The Wrong Type Of Contractor Work On Your Fence Is A Hassle
They put you through unnecessary drama and the quality of their work will leave you very frustrated. With so many horror stories about contractors who either don’t show up for the jobs they are tasked to do or blatantly do shoddy work, it is vital to assess the options you have.
If you had a written agreement or a contract about the work, both of you have to honor it. On your part, you must revisit the contract. Assess every word and phrasing of the contract itself. Look at the rules and responsibility of the parties in the contract. Ask yourself: have I fulfilled the duties of the contract as stipulated and on time? Has the contractor held up his end of the deal? What were the deliverables in the contract? Were they done in time? Is the contract ironclad with a valid stamp and signatures of both parties?
It seems like a lot of trouble to consider and contemplate about in greater detail, doesn’t it? Well, you must be sure that all the bases are covered before you can take any substantive actions- cancelling or going ahead with the contract.
Breaking an agreement without following the right process will inadvertently create a huge mess. Some contractors have the temerity to sue even when they are the offending party. They might wind up winning the lawsuit in a court of law. At any rate, it is vital to consult a lawyer should you find yourself in a dispute with the contractor. Don’t assume that the issue will resolve itself. Be proactive and get ahead of it, should it arise.
After covering all the angles and ensuring that there is clear path for exiting the contract, you can take the next course of action. If you are free and clear, then you should find another contractor as soon as possible. This time, you need to be thorough when choosing the right contractor.
There are clear steps that you ought to take in order to get a contractor who is worth every cent you pay him to put up your fence for you. You must ensure that you follow the steps outlined below to the letter.
Getting the right contractor in 8 easy steps
Below are the 8 main and easy to follow steps for finding the right contractor for you.
Have A Variety Of Options To Choose From
In order to forestall a repeat of the ‘contractor from Hell’ fiasco, you must first take your time to choose the right contractor from the many options out there. It is absolutely critical to have as many options as possible so that you can access only to the most appropriate options that will ensure that everything you need done on your fence goes off without a hitch.
You will find a myriad of options in the internet today. There are so many options out there that you might wind up with information overload. Don’t panic. There is an easy way of sifting through the many options at your disposal.
For starters, look at professional job sites. These sites hold a wealth of information about the fence contractors in your area and their rating. This is perhaps the easiest way since all the information you need to know about specific contractors is spelled out and arranged in an easy to understand manner. Go for the contractors with the highest ratings. It won’t hurt to peruse the individual reviews as well so get a better handle on what to expect from working with the contractor.
You can also ask for recommendations from people you trust and have fence work done on their property. They should provide you with a first-hand account of what it is like to work with different contractors. In addition, they will advise you in regard to the contractor that will best fit your requirements. Some of these people have gone through the tedious but fruitful task of choosing a contractor from the many options in the market. They know the traps that you need to be wary of and which contractors will best fit your budget and the quality of work that you will have done on your property.
If the aforementioned two resources are unavailable to you, look at the websites of the different contractors. The quality of the website and the testimonials should provide you a good idea of what you should expect from the contractor under scrutiny. You must choose the contractor who exhibits high quality of work on their website. This points to contractors that are professional and know how to market their brand. Haphazardly constructed sites with pictures that have poor resolution with little or no detail point out to unprofessional contractors. No matter how good their prices might appear on their sites, the quality of their presentation speaks volumes about who they are and how seriously they take their work.
In regards to the testimonials on the site, it is very tricky to discern fact from fiction. If the recommendations are suspect or cannot be verified independently, don’t sweat it. Move on to a site where you can verify the authenticity of the reviews. This way you can be absolutely sure about what to expect.
Finding the Fence Contractor’s Near Me
Since getting a company online can be very tedious, don’t try to go through them all at once. Regiment and divide the sites into manageable numbers at a time. This will not only save you time but it will also minimize information overload.
Do Thorough Research
While scouring through the various sites and have found a selected few, it is time for you to get your hands dirty. It is time for you to do thorough research. You will find information about the companies from the ‘About Us’ page. This information should be taken with a grain of salt. If you are intent on investing in a roofing contractor, choose them based on a thorough evaluation of their skills and other information, the kind that you don’t find on their site.
As was highlighted above, it is not enough to simply peruse the ‘About Us’ page and testimonials. You need to look at an objective assessment as well. It is important to look at reviews from other sites to get a feel for what to expect from these contractors.
When you go through these reviews, look at both the good and negative aspects of working with them. Don’t just focus on one aspect only to be blindsided by something from them that was avoidable.
A good contractor ought to be a member of the Better Business Bureau. This attests to the credibility of their business and especially their espousal to better business practices. If you are keen on vetting the various options, registration with the Better Business Bureau will make the vetting process very efficient. This is by lessening the work done by sifting through the various options at your disposal.
Another thing you can do to lighten the load, is to verify the address of the business. It is one thing to list an address on a company website and a different thing for it to actually exist. Take your time to make sure that the address listed there actually exists and that the business is located there.
Calling their offices is another practical step you can take to ensure the veracity of the information provided by the website. Some companies have automated answering machines. You must avoid them at all costs because they might wind up not showing up should you decide to hire them.
It is vital to be thorough when you are considering the various companies at your disposal because they are an investment. You are putting you time and money in them and they must provide a return in a timely and efficient manner.
Interview The Top 5 Selection
After verifying every company and vetting their quality, it is time to choose the top 5 companies. Most people skip this step and just choose the first company so that they can get this process over and done with as quickly as possible. Resist the temptation! It is time to double down and choose the top five companies that show promise.
If dropping down to five companies won’t work for you, the number you actually choose is at your discretion.
Any selections made must be interrogated further and this where interviews come into play. There are a few aspects that you need to keep an eye on when conducting the interviews.
i) Customer care is important- A good company is courteous to its customers. They value prospects and strive very hard to create a good impression. This might vary from company to company but overall, they must present themselves in a professional manner that inspires confidence. In essence, they must do everything in their power to make you feel like they are up for the job.
ii) Are they curious about the nature of the job? A good company will always ask you what you need solved. They won’t tap dance around the issue or avoid it altogether. Any company that does, must be shunned as quickly as possible. By asking this essential question, they can proceed to enumerate the steps they will take to address it for you.
iii) How do you pay? Most nefarious companies want you to pay for cash up front. They want to seal the deal very quickly and promise to get on the task the first thing in the morning. This is a red flag. Avoid that company at all costs because they are out to rob you.
iv) Do they provide you with a written estimate of works? After the company have asked about the nature of the work and have taken you through the process of how they will make your fence a reality, they will provide a breakdown of the costs. If you don’t have a clue about the extent of the compound that you want worked on, they will do a site visit. From the information they gather from that site visit, they will provide you with estimates that you can work on.
Probe Further Before Settling
After you have found the company that checks all the right boxes as described above, you need to go further. Just to be sure. After providing estimates to you, ask for alternatives that fit the budget. This shows adaptability in the course of their work_ an invaluable quality.
Another thing you need to be certain of is the timelines for work. If they dither or are non-committal about the work, it is best to avoid. You are looking for a company that stands by what it says and is definitive about the time they spend working on your fence.
You must also ask if they a contracts for the jobs they do. If they do, read the contract. Examine it in detail paying particular attention to the course of action you should take should they not fulfill their end of the bargain. If it is okay, sign it.
When a company passes this round of testing, choose them and proceed to the next step.
Take Care Of The Logistics On Your End
After choosing the company, the ball is in your court. It is incumbent on you take care of the logistics. Get the money ready for the purchase of materials and payment of the contractor.
Establish Who Is Responsible
You have chosen a contractor and it is time to put up your fence. So who is the onsite foreman? Get to know them and ask them for updates on regular intervals. This way you can hold them to account to should anything untoward happen in the course of the job.
Finally Payment
Once you are satisfied with the quality of the work done, it is time to talk payment. Usually, the costs of the job would have been made clearer to you before the job started,
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