GETTING CONTRACTOR BIDS FOR A HOME PROJECT
Most people think, shopping for the right flooring contractor is merely choosing the contractor with the lowest price. Wrong! The cheapest price always reflects the quality of work and the inferior materials used on the project. Cutting corners or doing substandard work will only cause regret at the end of the project. The level of difficulty should also weigh in your decesion making. Hardwood floor refinishing is by far the most difficult project that could occur in your home. Let's move on.
NEVER HIRE A GENERAL CONTRACTOR
Another common mistake is to hire a “General contractor” for your hardwood flooring needs. These, “Jack of all trades” are limited in their knowledge in flooring, so the options and services they provide are extremely limited.
Many times, the general contractor will recommend tearing out the old flooring and replacing it with new flooring. When that happens, you can bet the total cost of the project will climb drastically in price. Most homeowners come to trust their General contractors, and the generals use that to their financial advantage. Another unnecessary charge the home owner will suffer is a finder’s fee/commission when the General contractor will sub out the work. Just recently, we intercepted a customer that caught onto his General Contractors inflated bid scheme. The client called us and things changed dramatically.
DIRECTLY HIRE A C15 FLOORING CONTRACTOR AND SAVE THOUSANDS
After the client called us after sensing something wrong with the General contractor bid, we examined the project costs. After having National Floors bid the project, the customer found a $3,000.00 savings by hiring us directly. When you cut out the middle man, you save big! How so? The finder’s fee, commission and inflated pricing were ultimately eliminated.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT TO HIRE A LICENSED CONTRACTOR
Finding a good price is important, but what you should be truly seeking is a way of protecting your personal property if things go terribly wrong. Yes, it’s possible for licensed contractors to make mistakes, but there is no doubt about it, unlicensed contractors wreck home projects on a daily basis.
Let me create a negative scenario with a flooring project of $5,000.00. If you hire an unlicensed flooring contractor and something happens (let’s say you are dissatisfied with the work), the unlicensed contractor has the option of not correcting the problem.
• What if that unlicensed contractor backs into your car?
• How about theft?
• Or a fire in your home breaks out (this really happens)?
• Or they just decide not to complete the project when you already paid them in full?
What legal options do you have for restitution? Well, you could call them and attempt to work things out, but odds are, nobody will pick up. It is common practice for these guys to go dark (disappear). Worst case scenario, you are now out of $5k, the problems they created still need to be fixed and any other additional costs for damages have arisen.
On the other hand, if the flooring contractor “Is” C15 licensed; that means they are insured and have a bond. That means they are locked in to finding a solution with their client if things go south. Realistically, the C15 licensed contractor possessed the experience and skill to begin with to evade such issues. On top of that, the client has the ability to recover any lost money through the California State License Board, or through their insurance policy or through their Bond. These remedies swiftly and legally deal with any potential issues; which puts the leverage on the client’s side. In short, the monetary risk is removed.
LOCATING A REPUTABLE LICENSED C15 FLOORING CONTRACTOR
So how do you find a quality contractor? Well, since we are looking for a company that you will entrust your personal property with, there is no quick answer. This will take some time to locate a reputable contractor, so let’s cover some of your options:
• There is the good old fashion way of “Referral” tends to be the most reliable. If a friend of yours has had similar work done in the past and they have a flooring contractor they have personally worked with, this might be the way to go. Your friend or colleague has done the leg work and has minimized the risk by actually having personally dealt with the flooring contractor, seeing the project through to completion with satisfied results.
• A great way to locate a reputable flooring contractor is to do a “Google” search. A reputable flooring contractor will have a business page set up. Google won’t let a contractor or business set up a Google maps page unless that business is verified and meets certain standards. This is a really good thing for customer protection. Here, you should be able to acquire all of the essential business information.
This would include:
o Contact information; phone, email and a physical address along with a website. You should verify this information.
o Next, you will need to access the C15 contractor’s license number. Our # is 903508. This is NOT to be confused with a business license. A business license can be acquired for $30 at the local county clerk’s office and doesn’t constitute any expertise in a trade. Any handyman can get one of these and disguise themselves as a licensed contractor. Once you have the C15 license #, verify it at the CSLB website to see if it’s current. You can also check to see if there are any complaints against the individual or company.
o Thirdly, ask for references: You can check for reviews on Google or Yelp to see how this particular company performs with past clients. The less reviews, the more likely you are dealing with a newer company that lacks real experience.
o Lastly, get a feel for how they do business. National Floors has a “No deposit” policy. You heard right, no deposit on labor. When the work is complete and you are satisfied, that is when you pay in full. This gives our clients all the leverage they need to move forward with confidence.
