Sunday, July 20, 2014

Factors To Consider When Looking For Good New Orleans Contractors

Factors To Consider When Looking For Good New Orleans Contractors

By Paulette Mason


If you are a real estate investor, you probably have worked with a contractor at some point. It does not matter whether you are a second home landlord or experienced rehabber, a good contractor is always essential for successful running of any business. While there are a number of good contractors in the market today, there are also some who do not deserve to be hired at all. Below are factors you need to consider when looking for the best New Orleans contractors.

Nothing can beat word of mouth when looking for any service provider. You should not over rely on newspaper or television advertisements or yellow pages. In fact, the best contractors do not have to advertise themselves to get clients. Most of their customers come from referrals. So if you get a homeowner who was satisfied with the contractor who renovated his/her apartment; that would be the best person to seek referral from.

It is also important that you get quotes from at least three companies. This usually seems obvious but so many people do not actually do it. The disparity between two quotes for the same job is sometimes too big to be ignored. If you are only getting one quotes, chances are very high that you are wasting money and marring your return on investment.

You also need to determine all licensing regulations in your state before making a choice. In New Orleans for instance, a contractor cannot operate without a valid license issued by the relevant authority. Any contractor operating without this very important document is doing so illegally. It is therefore upon you to verify that your prospective contractor has a valid license before committing into working with him.

You also need to be on the safe side especially in case of incident or accident. The only way you can guarantee this is by engaging outworkers with insurance cover. You should therefore ask your prospective contractor for his certificate of insurance and see how much it covers. Ensure that both personal injuries as well as liability are covered.

Very few people make important decision such as choosing a contractor based on their instincts. Most of the times, people rely entirely on referrals. While this is not a bad strategy, you should not ignore your instinct. In fact, instincts are usually very strong and rarely mislead. So if your instinct is against a particular contractor, it would be important just to ignore him.

Once you identify a reputable contractor, it is important to get every detail in ink. In an ideal world, just a handshake with your contractor would be enough. However, the world is not perfect and thus a handshake will not be enough. So, in order to stay away from unscrupulous outworkers, you should always insist on written contract.

It may be difficult to trust a stranger with your lifetime investment. This explains why you need to aim at top notch outworkers. Otherwise, you will find it very difficult to let the contractor carry out repairs or renovations on your costly home or house.




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