Actually, good help is hard to find

Once you’ve made the decision to go ahead with renovations at your house, your next big choice will be deciding which contractor to hire to do the work.

Unfortunately for many homeowners, the saying “good help is hard to find” can often be true. Here, then, are some of my tips on helping you find a contractor that you’ll be happy to work with. Family and friends: Some of the best references can be from family or friends who’ve worked with a specific contractor before. But don’t just take your second cousin’s rec- ommendation that “Jim did a great job” at face value.

Ask some specific questions about how the project went. Was the job completed on time and on budget? If not, were the variables out of the contractor’s control: weather-related delays, or upgrades the client asked for after work was underway? Was the work your neighbour had done relevant to the job you’re interested in? The world’s best roofer isn’t the person you want to hire to install your new bathroom. I know this seems straightforward but, in the end, make sure the recommended contractor is right for your project. Star system: Beyond first-person recommendations, there are a number of online resources that homeowners can use to suss out a company’s calibre of work. One of the biggest phenomena of the renovation world in the past few years has been the growth of the website homestars.com. For many homeowners, it has become the go-to site.

You can search by category (roofing, plumbing, windows and doors, etc.) or by specific company name. Clients rate each company from zero to 10 stars — 10 being the best, of course — and usually include detailed comments with their rating, describing how the job went. The scores are averaged out and the top-rated companies in each category get a “Best Of” crown with their listing.

Of course, the longer a company has been in business, the more likely it will be that a few jobs haven’t gone perfectly. So even if a company does have a few negative reviews, weigh those against the positive. And keep in mind that most people are more likely to go to the trouble of writing a complaint letter than they are to write a positive review. The three Bs: One of the oldest contractor vetting services is the Better Business Bureau. In the pre-Internet days, it was probably the place consumers could go to find out if a company did good work or bad. Today, websites such as Homestars have taken over. Plan ahead: The key to finding the best contractor for the job is to plan ahead. The most highly regarded contractors are booked up months in advance of a job. If you want to have a new deck or patio to enjoy in the summer, you can’t start calling around for quotes in June. In fact, now would be a good time to start asking around for contractors to do work next spring.

Some projects also require a lot of lead time to get off the ground. An addition or other renovation requiring major structural changes will require architectural drawings, building permits and other paperwork that needs to be sorted out long before a shovel can go into the ground. Apples-to-apples pricing: Finally, keep in mind that the old adage “you get what you pay for” rings true with renovations. If you get a few different quotes on the same project, don’t necessarily go for the one carrying the cheapest price. If one is significantly lower than the others, that could be a red flag that the comparisons aren’t equal.

At the same time, you’re not necessarily going to get the best job by simply hiring the most-expensive company. Many contractors find it hard to turn down jobs. So even if they have more jobs lined up than they can reasonably handle, they’ll often still go out to bid on projects. If a project seems too complicated — or the contractor is too busy to take it on — rather than simply saying they can’t do it, some will tack on a hefty markup, well above the margin they’d normally charge. If the contractor seems overly booked, and their pricing of your job comes in overly high, step back and consider if you will get what you pay for. Jim Caruk’s column runs every two weeks in New in Homes & Condos. He’s a master contractor, editor-in-chief of Renovation Contractor magazine, renovation editor for Reno & Decor magazine, and founder of the Renos for Heroes program and Build It Yourself Learning Centres in the GTA. Sign up for his e-newsletter at renocontractor.ca.

Reach out to your family and friends for recommendations. You can also check out the website Homestars to suss out the best person for the job