How Do You Find a Home Contractor You Can Trust?

When you’re ready to remodel or build an addition on your home, your mind may be swirling with possibilities or you may know exactly what you want the project to include. But before choosing finishes or even settling on the layout of your new space, you need to take one critical step that will be the most important factor in determining your ultimate satisfaction with both the process and the outcome. You need to pick the right home remodeling contractor. You need someone with the right experience but also a contractor who will listen to you, honor your preferences, respect your space, and tailor the design to your specific goals.

How do you find the right home contractor? There’s no magic formula, but we can offer some proven strategies to help you locate a remodeling contractor you can trust to do the job to your satisfaction. Statistics show that approximately 30% of homeowners end up having a home renovation project re-done because it wasn’t completed right the first time. Putting in extra effort to find the right contractor can help ensure that you’re not one of those 30%.

Look for an Accredited Contractor

It goes without saying that you want to work with a contractor who is currently licensed in the state of Florida and one that understands the value of ensuring that all work is properly permitted at each stage in the process. Some contractors will tell you that licensing is meaningless and permits needlessly add to the delays and expense of a project. This should be a red flag. 

Licensing is a fairly simple process for a contractor who has basic knowledge of construction principles and requirements, so there is no excuse for a qualified contractor not to have a license. Contractors can lose their licenses for actions such as fraud or violating building codes, so if a contractor does not have a current license, there is every possibility that they lost it due to misconduct and that a contractor you want to stay away from.

Complying with licensing and permit requirements is just the bare minimum to be considered a reliable contractor. You also want to look for a contractor who is accredited. What does that mean? Accreditation is an extensive evaluation process conducted by an independent authority to ensure that an organization is offering a quality program that consumers can trust. Colleges and universities routinely go through accreditation processes to reassure the public that the standards of their programs remain high.

Home contractors can become accredited as well through the National Association of Professionally Accredited Contractors. To receive accreditation, a contractor must fulfill a number of requirements, such as having a certain level of specialty experience and a commitment to 100% customer satisfaction through an independent rating system. When a contractor undertakes the effort to become accredited, it not only proves that they meet exceptional standards but also that they care enough to let consumers know about their commitment to maintaining those standards.

Get Referrals

Word of mouth is usually one of the most successful ways to assess the quality of a home contractor’s performance. Someone who is personally familiar with a contractor’s work can provide details about the process and the end result that is hard to find any other way.

When looking for referrals, you can talk to people who have had a remodeling or renovation project completed, but you can also talk to suppliers of high-end materials about the contractors they work with. (Skip the big box stores and look for suppliers of custom-grade or ultra-custom-grade products.) These suppliers can often share the names of contractors that they work with, and those contractors can then give you references so that you can talk to homeowners and check out the quality of workmanship for yourself. It takes a little effort, but your time will be well spent when you emerge from the process fully satisfied.

Consider Reviews

Reviews can often provide valuable information about a home remodeling contractor, but you need to weigh reviews carefully because they’re not all created equally. Some reviews are actually testimonials. A testimonial is an endorsement from someone. 

At Marcela Montoya Remodeling, we feature a number of testimonials on our website because we often find that our clients do a better job of explaining the value of the services we offer than we could do ourselves. Remember, however, that when a contractor points to testimonials, they are only showing you the positive side of the story and telling you what you want to hear. Many businesses, including home remodeling contractors, encourage friends, family members, and customers to post glowing comments on review sites that are testimonials rather than reviews.

A genuine review can tell you about both the positive and negative aspects of working with a particular contractor. They can be skewed somewhat because people are far more likely to post a review if they are angry about something and want to vent their frustration than they are if everything went as they expected. But even in vindictive reviews, you can read between the lines to learn certain things about a contractor. And when reviews consistently repeat the same information—whether good or bad—that can indicate that a positive trait is genuine or a negative trait that is a consistent problem.

Combine the Strategies and Determine Who Will Best Meet Your Needs

At Marcela Montoya Remodeling, we have always focused on customer satisfaction and we find that referrals from the homeowners we’ve worked with provide the greatest source of new clients for us. For over 20 years, we’ve proven to be a custom contractor clients can trust to work to their specifications. Satisfaction sells. If you are planning a custom home renovation or addition in South Florida, we invite you to schedule a free design consultation with Marcela Montoya to learn about the possibilities for a new kitchen, luxury bathroom, home office, or other enhancements to your home.