How to find the right contractor to quote on your Home Improvement Project

I. How to find the right contractor to quote on your Home Improvement Project

Introduction:

There are many horror stories from people who engaged a Contractor to perform home improvement/renovations & the project ended in disaster.

This article will hopefully help you, the Home-Owner, minimize your chances of having your project ending in a disaster.

 

Over my 30 years in the industry, I have heard hundreds of stories of projects ending badly, in fact, barely a week goes by that I’m not told of another one, usually as I have been called out to assist with the aftermath.

Over the years I have noticed certain ‘common threads’ through all these stories & finally decided to draw up guidelines to avoid being a victim of a project gone wrong.

 

Notes:

1. On large projects, like building a new home, new building, or a new wing to an existing home where plans need to be drawn up & approved, it is advisable to hire a project manager (the architect sometimes performs this role) & do the project under the JBCC guidelines.

These large projects may involve Health & Safety officers, Quantity Surveyors, a BoQ (Bill of Quantities), Payment Guarantees, Late Complement Penalties, etc. The advice below will still apply, however, you should largely be protected by the JBCC & the Project Manager.

 

2. Whilst the advice below will help on smaller jobs. Like those with a value below R10 000, this advice is primarily aimed at projects of higher value.  

 

Here is my advice:

 

Starting Out:

Right, so you’ve decided to embark on a Home Improvement Project, be it to:

·       Repaint the Exterior of the house, or

·       Repaint the Interior, or

·       Repaint the roof, or

·       Have a crack in one room repaired & the walls repainted, or

·       Retiling, or

·       Renovating a Bathroom or Kitchen, or

·       Having gutters &/or fascia’s replaced, or

·       Knocking down a wall to create an open-plan space, or

·       Building a new lapa/entertainment area.

·       Replacing the low front fence with a higher wall, or

·       Repaving, or

·       Whatever….

Once you’ve decided exactly what you need to be done, your next step is to find someone to do it.

 

Selecting a Contractor to Quote:

Firstly you need to find a Contractor, the most common place these days (with the demise of the Yellow Pages) is to do an internet search, however, a friend or colleague may have recently done a similar project & have a Contractor they recommend, or you may ask on your neighbourhood/community Facebook or WhatsApp group, no matter where you source the contractor, it is advisable to apply the Star Rating System outlined below.

Remember, if the project has a value north of R10000 it is important to try to obtain more than one quote, ideally try get three quotes.

 

Star Rating System:

1. Website:

No matter where you find the Contractor/s, go look at their website, if they have a Website & it’s fairly decent, allocate a Star * 1^st Star

 

2. Google Reviews:

Check the Google reviews of the Contractor/s, there should be at least 10 reviews. The more reviews the better. The Google Review rating should be between 4.5 & 4.9.

Note that a Contractor with no Google reviews, or one with less than 10 Reviews (especially if they are all 5 Star positive reviews) should raise a red flag. Everyone gets friends & family to write a review, that’s why it is important to see more than 10. Also, read the negative reviews & how the company responded to the negative review – this will tell you a lot about both the Reviewer & the company. Also, on a very negative Review, check out the Reviewer, there are a lot of professional complainers who live to write negative Reviews, so, use your discretion if there is a horrible review from someone who has reviewed many companies & all the reviews are negative.

If there are 10+ reviews and the rating is between 4.5 & 4.9, give a Star *

You may give a Star if the rating is 5.0, but first, satisfy yourself that it is legit. 2^nd Star

 

3. Years in the Industry:

Next is to find out how long the company has been in existence; this should be on the Website (or on their Facebook Page) or you can take a guess based on the age of the oldest Google Review.

If more than 5 years, allocate a Star * 3^rd Star

 

4. Other

Look at other areas, for example, in one horror story the client used a company where the Contractors e-mail address was something like ben@rhoodepaints.co.za (for example) yet the company’s name was completely different & there was no painting involved in the project.

So, look for anything that doesn’t add up. Check Hello Peter, google the owner, etc.

Allocate a Star * if this ‘Due Diligence’ doesn’t reveal anything negative. 4^th Star

 

Right, so now you should have two or three Contractors with, ideally, 4 Stars * each, contact them.  (Note: a phone call is far better than sending a text, using a ‘Contact Us’ form, or sending an e-mail. By nature, good contractors are out doing good work, not in the office reading e-mails, or texts), explain what you require them to quote on & arrange for them to come see you.).

 The House Doctor 2023