How to find a reliable contractor and avoid a stressful renovation
We’ve all heard—or worse, experienced—horror stories about fly-by-night contractors who promise one thing (typically, the world) and deliver quite another; are difficult to reach for days, weeks, and even months on end; or disappear completely with your hard-earned deposit money, never to be heard from again.
“In total, I lost close to $50,000 during my own experience,” says the founder and chief operating officer of Renoassistance, Eric Perigny, who went through all three scenarios. Back in 2008 when he bought a 16unit building in Verdun, he hired what turned out to be a series of unreliable contractors that were recommended to him by friends.
“I was making all kinds of promises to the renters in my building based on what the contractors were telling me would happen by a certain date, and that made things even worse for me, personally. It made me look, and feel, like a bad landlord.”
Perigny, who has an MBA, had completed a course to become a contractor with the Association des professionnels de la construction et de l’habitation du Québec (APCHQ). He tends to be analytical and make good business decisions, so he quickly realized that if he could be fooled by shoddy contractors, anyone could, including his parents.
Imagining how difficult it would be for them to experience what he went through, Perigny was struck by a thought: What if he created a service that eliminated all the bad experiences by providing the best contractors and renovation professionals? By using a stringent verification process, it could eliminate bad experiences and help clients start each project with peace of mind.
And just like that, Renoassistance was born.
One of the first of its kind in Quebec, Renoassistance is a local, collaborative, comprehensive platform and business model that is changing the renovation landscape one project at a time by helping both property owners and contractors find the best matches.
“Instead of starting with a business plan, I started by building the site and thinking about all of the services and supports that could be of use to people,” says Perigny. The company’s ultimate mission is to provide both residential and commercial property owners with reliable and verified contractors, knowledgeable advisors, and the opportunity to complete a successful renovation without any broken promises or tears.
“Within five minutes of making the site live, I had my first client.”
The network, which now has over 1,600 verified contractors, 100 employees, and a $200 million annual operating budget, guarantees the work it provides by verifying contractors’ business history, legal history, customer satisfaction levels, and more.
It has the most comprehensive verification process in the industry. Each verification report includes the contractor’s confidence index score, reliability index score, liability insurance, licenses, and judicial records.
In short, Renoassistance audits each and every professional it works with, so you don’t have to.
Founded on the principle of working together and helping people, this local success story has a roster of other partners and collaborators it works with, in addition to the professionals it refers people to, and has recently expanded into Ontario.
Included on that roster is the APCHQ, a private, nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the professionalism of its 19,000 member companies and represent their best interests while respecting consumer expectations, as well as Desjardins, the major financial institution it partnered with in 2020.
Desjardins acquired a majority ownership stake in Renoassistance in order to help provide home equity loans, mortgages, and lines of credit to homeowners and businesses looking to undertake a renovation, major repair, or construction project.
Proassistance is the resulting partner company that offers its clients a stress-free experience as well as a turnkey service for both their property maintenance and repairs, all of which operates via one centralized app that optimizes customer follow-up and billing.
“Thanks to the process we’ve implemented, the network of verified professionals we work with, and our major partners and collaborators, we’ve changed the way renovations function in Quebec,” says Perigny, who can now rest easy knowing that homeowners will never have to experience the horror story he did.
For more information about Renoassistance, to read more tips about how to find a reliable contractor, or to get a quote on a project, visit renoassistance.ca.