You have heard the story a thousand times. You know it all too well. A friend, a neighbor, maybe even a family member wants to get a portion of their house remodeled. They do a little searching, talk to a contractor or two, and decide to give the job to the winning contractor because they “seemed nice.” So they give the contractor a sizeable advance and wait for the masterpiece to unfold.
Then the story starts to take a turn for the worse. The contractor is late to appointments with the homeowner, doesn’t show up for days at a time, and never responds to their phone calls. Eventually he disappears from the job altogether, never completing the job, never refunding any of the money.
The frequency of which these tales occur is what is maybe most disturbing about the scenario. It also makes it tougher for the “real” professional contractors to do work.
So what is the lesson here? What can be done to make sure the story above doesn’t happen to you?
There are a number of things you can do to protect yourself but none may be bigger than getting referrals from the contractors that you are interviewing. Don’t just get one or two referrals, get as many as you can.
Referrals are one of the best ways for a contractor to show his customers the legitimacy of his business. The more referrals he has, the more credibility he has. And here’s the thing, every good contractor WANTS you to ask for his referrals and he wants you to check on them.
For any basement remodeling project to go according to plan there needs to be a certain amount of trust and accountability on both parties involved. The contractor knows that if you check his referrals and see he has done great work time after time, then you are going to trust the contractor and you are going to have better understanding of what to expect during the remodeling process.
If you talk to a contractor who is not enthusiastic about giving you his references, then you know that he is a contractor you should stay away from.
Marvelous Basements prides itself on being able to give a large number of quality references to their potential clients. If you are thinking about remodeling your basement and would like to see the work that we have previously done, give us call today. We guarantee that when we’re done finishing your basement that you too will be on our list of references.