{"id":6168,"date":"2014-05-29T07:10:36","date_gmt":"2014-05-29T12:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/salvador-ins.one.zysites.com\/blog\/hiring-a-contractor-checklist\/"},"modified":"2025-04-22T11:25:30","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T16:25:30","slug":"hiring-a-contractor-checklist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salvadorinsurance.com\/es\/blog\/hiring-a-contractor-checklist\/","title":{"rendered":"Hiring a Contractor Checklist"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Concerns about questionable contractors are the number one reason consumers call the Better Business Bureau.<\/p>\n<p>This statistic doesn\u2019t surprise Phae Howard, executive director of the National Center for the Prevention of Home Improvement Fraud.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s easy money since most people don\u2019t understand the language of home improvement,\u201d says Howard, who recently published <em>Don\u2019t Even Think About Ripping Me Off!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Concerned about becoming a victim? Then keep these things in mind when it comes to hiring a contractor for your home improvement project.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">Finding a contractor<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Check in with your local homebuilders\u2019 association.<\/li>\n<li>Get referrals from friends, family and coworkers.<\/li>\n<li>Compile a list of reputable contractors <em>before<\/em> you need one. The stress of an emergency might impair your judgment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">How to vet a contractor<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>See if the trade association(s) where he or she belongs stipulates a code of ethics, minimum hours of satisfactory work and trade exams.<\/li>\n<li>Check in with your state attorney general\u2019s office and the Better Business Bureau to see if there are any complaints against the contractor.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">Paperwork you need to see<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A copy of their contractor\u2019s license<\/li>\n<li>Certificate of insurance for both general liability and workers\u2019 compensation coverage<\/li>\n<li>A written warranty for the work they do<\/li>\n<li>A list of references from people who had similar projects done<\/li>\n<li>A detailed quote that itemizes material and labor<\/li>\n<li>A contract detailing the cost, work to be done, time schedules, guarantees, payment schedules and other expectations<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">Red flags<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Asks you to pay the entire balance up front<\/li>\n<li>Only accepts cash<\/li>\n<li>Avoids giving you a written contract<\/li>\n<li>Goes door-to-door<\/li>\n<li>Lists a P.O. Box instead of a street address<\/li>\n<li>Has a vehicle that doesn\u2019t list the business name<\/li>\n<li>Offers to pay your insurance deductible<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">Be extra careful if:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You have little to no experience hiring home contractors.<\/li>\n<li>A disability or injury prevents you from accessing areas of your home that a contractor claims are damaged.<\/li>\n<li>You\u2019re not 100 percent clear about the contract wording.<\/li>\n<li>You tend to shy away from asking tough questions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Finally, always let your <a href=\"http:\/\/www.erieinsurance.com\/agent%20listing?ZipCode\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">I<\/a>nsurance Agent\u00a0\u00a0know when you\u2019re planning a home improvement project. If you don\u2019t, you run the risk of coming up short if you have to rebuild after a total loss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Concerns about questionable contractors are the number one reason consumers call the Better Business Bureau. This statistic doesn\u2019t surprise Phae Howard, executive director of the National Center for the Prevention of Home Improvement Fraud. \u201cIt\u2019s easy money since most people don\u2019t understand the language of home improvement,\u201d says Howard, who recently published Don\u2019t Even Think [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":null,"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-home"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salvadorinsurance.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salvadorinsurance.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salvadorinsurance.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salvadorinsurance.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salvadorinsurance.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.salvadorinsurance.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6168\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salvadorinsurance.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salvadorinsurance.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salvadorinsurance.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}