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Home renovation can be an extremely rewarding experience. However, there can be a lot of pitfalls throughout the process if you don’t find a residential contractor that's right for your job. That’s why we devised this step-by-step process to make your contractor search as simple as possible.
Before even looking into contractors you need to understand what you’re trying to do. It’s not just a matter of remodeling your kitchen. No, within your kitchen there are countless moving parts to take into account.
Each bit of information you research is important. The better you know the answers, the better you will be able to explain your job to contractors and determine if they are the right match for you.
Saving money is important, there’s no getting around that. But defaulting to the lowest price can also lead to innumerable headaches and be more costly in the end. The hard truth is sometimes the lowest bidder isn’t the right choice for what you need. Often times the lowest bidder may have misinterpreted the details of your job costing you more money in the long run. If they cut corners and don’t build to code, that too will cost you when you try to sell your house and it fails inspection. That’s why it’s vital to run through each step and do your research.
Ask the people you trust: family, friends, peers and local professionals. They’ve all likely used contractors for similar or related jobs and they definitely have an opinion on their experience. You will almost always receive valuable information and you might even hear a hilarious story.
Now that you have some ideas, take those select contractors and do some comparative research. Take a look at each contractor’s portfolio and check to make sure that what they’ve done is quality and similar enough to your own job. You can even dig a bit deeper and contact previous clients to find out what their experience was. If the answers you find are all positive, then you may have found a contender.
These are the documents that validate a contractor, whether it’s a Better Business Bureau accreditation, OSHA certifications, or proper licensing to do the work in your state. Each are telling signs of a contractor’s capability, quality, trustworthiness and attention to safety.
Finally, interview them yourself; preferably in person. You can do all the research in the world to make a decision, but until you meet your contractor you can’t be certain. Pick someone you like and that you can see yourself interacting with throughout your project. They should always be friendly and open to any feedback you have. This, on top of all the rest, will land you with the perfect contractor for your renovation job.
Now that you have picked out your contractor, ensure that they do exactly what you need with a detailed contract. Get assurance that they will build in compliance with the National Electrical Code (NEC). Leave nothing to chance and be very specific on what happens because at the end of the day they’re not the contractor’s renovations, they’re your renovations. It all comes back to understanding your job.
Going through this method is effective, but it can be a long process. That’s why we came up with our own.
We can help take some of the work out of finding your contractor. We have relationships with more than 100 licensed electrical contractors and thousands of highly skilled and safe electricians and technicians in the St. Louis area. These are professionals dedicated to building to NEC standards that we can guarantee to be certified, hard-working and professional. Plus we can work with you to ensure that you get exactly what you want. To find IBEW/NECA contractors near you try out our Find a Contractor Directory Search today. 
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