How Do You Pick a Contractor?

I interviewed a few contractors. Prices varied wildly for the initial project I wanted to take on. The lowest price was 3k and the highest was 20k. The guy who said 3k also said, “but I don’t do plumbing or electrical.” So I’m not really sure what he was planning on doing in the first place since I was trying to find someone to put in a bathroom. Two told me that moving one of the walls I wanted to move was a non issue and that the wall I wanted to move “probably” wasn’t load bearing. Only ONE of the contractors actually went up into the attic to see if the wall was load-bearing (it is).

The low price contractors are probably lying or do a lousy job. I eliminated them immediately. The ones that shrugged shoulders and said, “yeah, we could probably do it…” and seemed to know less than I did about the house’s construction was eliminated. One contractor, said to me, “listen, anybody that comes here should be able to tell you a price without going up to his truck or back to his office. He should be able to show you this..” and he showed me his license and insurance “… and he should be able to give you references.” And he pulled out a paper of past customers with their phone numbers. After he left, I called his references. They all said the same thing, “the price on the estimate is the price we paid.” One woman told me that he went above and beyond the call to make sure the job was done right.

So, between that and the overall good feeling I had—I went with the big guy with the loud gravely voice.