Tip of the Week: What to Look for When Choosing a Contractor

What to look for in selecting a contractor

Opening your doors to a stranger and trusting them in your home can be nerve racking and unsettling.  This especially holds true when hiring a contractor to perform quality work on your property.  Let the long Island Builders Institute, a local non-profit organization for over 70 years, introduce you to licensed and professional industry specialists that you can depend on.

In this week’s “Tip of the Week” learn what to look for when selecting a contractor and let LIBI help you along the way.  

• Don’t be afraid to ask questions! Trust your friends and neighbor’s opinions as well as other satisfied customers.  Ask various questions like, “Was the job started and completed on time?” “Was the quoted price the same as the final cost”? “How was the quality of the work?” Etc. 
• Be sure to seek out licensed contractors, only.  An unlicensed contractor may not have the liability coverage needed as well as poor business techniques.  Watch out for “fly-by-nights” who will take your money and run.  A contractor with a license protects you from such fraud.   Ask yourself, “Why would they be unlicensed in the first place”?    
• Do not allow the contractor to pressure you into signing a certificate of completion, or to hand over the final payment amount until the work you hired them for has been completed with your approval. Sometimes, dishonest contractors will try to get a completion certificate signed by you before the work is finished which breaches your legal rights if the work is never in fact completed. 

Join LIBI on Wednesday March 20, 2013 as they present Superstorm Resource Expo, where you can meet hundreds of local industry professionals who are licensed and LIBI approved.  The expo will be hosted by Donna Donna of WBAB and held at the Hyatt Regency Long Island in Hauppauge and is now open to the public as well as the trade.

For more information about the expo, visit http://www.libi.org or “Superstorm Resource Expo” at Facebook.com. 

Source: http://www.nassaucountyny.gov/agencies/oca/Licensing/checklist.html