5 Key Takeaways on the Road to Dominating Professionals
Choosing a Reputable Painting Contractor
Let’s admit it: not all painters are reputable, and the last thing you want is to get conned when you’re only looking to protect and prettify your home. You know you have to be informed as a consumer, but where exactly do you begin? What do you consider when choosing a painting contractor?
List Prospects
There’s a ton of resources for anyone looking for prospective painting contractors. Start by seeking recommendations from pals, relatives or colleagues. You can also go to your local Better Business Bureau website and read reviews left by real people on consumer sites such as Yelp and Angie’s List. Usually, better-reviewed and higher-rated contractors are more conscious about qualiy and customer satisfaction.
Get Several Bids
It’s always wise to ask for multiple bids so you can make comparisons. Don’t be tempted to choose a prospect simply because they made the lowest bid – by far the worst way to select a contractor of any kind. But a little healthy competition is always welcome, and it helps to keep prices reasonable.
Interviewing Prospects
One of the key reasons behind people’s dissatisfaction with their painting contractors is that they never asked the right questions before coming up with a decision. When meeting your prospects for the first time, act as though it were a job interview. They are literally interviewing for your business so don’t hold back when you want to ask questions, including the tough ones. You need information about your potential contractor before you hire them, not when they’ve begun priming your walls. Not asking at all could mean courting disaster.
If you’re not asking the right questions, your decision will be mainly based on price. But take note, you don’t want the lowest price. You’re looking for a contractor you can trust to give you with a quality job and and the best value for your hard-earned cash.
Seeking References
Your concluding act of due diligence in selecting a painting contractor is to request for references. If a contractor is worth their salt, they will have a ready list of references to give you so you can see and assess their work for yourself.
After all, the most credible sources of information about your prospects are those who have actually worked with them in the not so distant past. Again, be sure to ask all the vital questions, and end with “Would you be happy to hire the same contractor for a future job?” The answer to that last question will be the most telling of all. Now you can make a confident choice.
