3 steps to hire a contractor

Step 1: Always ask for references. “Can I have a few references from the past year of jobs that you’ve worked on?” Of course every contractor will give you only good experiences, but they still have to have good experiences.

Step 2: Look them up on the CSLB.com (Contractors State Licensing Board) Yeah that’s a mouthful. This is the California organization that handles all disputes against contractors, ensures they are in good standing, have current workers compensation policy and ulitmatiy hands out the licenses to contractors. You can look up any contractor on here through this link.

Step 3: Ask about pre-construction process. There should be a process to help you as the client make decisions about your project. Often times the temptation is to quickly move to budget, but a budget without pre-construction is just a best guess at the project with lots of information missing. Tile selection, cabinets, paint style, is a wall structural etc. All these are factors when considering pricing. If a company doesn’t have a pre-construction process to help you navigate budget and decisions, be cautious.

**Never give large sums of money up front to a contractor. Payment should be paid on some type of progress. Cabinets have been ordered, demo has been completed etc. **