How to avoid hiring a bad contractor like we did

Daron made it home from his work trip, I came back from my getaway to my parents' house and we went out to the house to try to reconvene and figure out how to move forward on the project.

At this point, we were both super upset and couldn't even really make sense of the situation. Daron was also receiving daily threatening text messages from J. It was a really emotionally draining time for both of us. We just simply wanted our house finished.

We are really fortunate to have a supportive family. Both of our parents stepped in and helped us find a more reliable contractor who could help us finished up the job, they helped us finish some of the projects we decided to take on ourselves and they gave us guidance on what to do to get our house livable so we could move in. At this point, things could only go up! So grateful to be surrounded by supportive family and friends.

We hired a local contractor to finish the job who was amazing! He knew what we had gone through and wouldn't even allow us to pay him until the work was done (this is almost unheard of in the construction business). There ARE good contractors in the world, you just have to make sure to vet your contractor well before hiring them rather than taking their own word like we did.

While our remodel didn't go as planned and we had a really bad experience, we feel fortunate to learn so many lessons early on. Would we do another remodel in the future? Yes, absolutely (I just recently started saying I would do it again!). We would just be a lot more selective about who we bring in to help us do the work.

I generally like to be a positive light in this space and I feel like this is very negative and I've been very hesitant to share our story. At the end of the day, I wanted to educate others on what can and does happen in the construction industry often so that others are more aware than we were going into this.

After a few conversations with an attorney and others who have built and remodeled homes, we learned that issues like ours with contractors happen often. We were shocked! It's so sad to know that so many go through similar situations. Here are some tips we learned the hard way for hiring a contractor.

Tips for Hiring a Good Contractor:

+ Have 2 or 3 contractors walk the project with you and give you a bid! Make sure their pricing is fair! (Keep in mind that sometimes the cheapest price isn't going to be the best work)

+ Ask them questions about how they do things, how their process works, how often the lead contractor is on the job, review the expected timeline, ask when they can get started, etc. Also, don't hesitate to ask a few personal questions like "are you from here?" "do you raise a family in the area?" - they are going to be in your HOME! Get to know them and their values.

+ Ask for references and ask if there are any homes they have re-done that you can go look at. And then CALL those references and ask about their experience and ask if they know of others who have used the contractor. Ultimately, you want to talk to someone who isn't a direct reference (you know those people are always going to give raving reviews).

+ Take the time to look at some of their work if you have the opportunity. Look at it up close. Does it look professional and meet your standards?

+ If you are getting a loan for the work, talk to your bank or lender. Ask if they have worked with the contractor! They will be able to tell you who is easy to work with, organized, and upholds their end of the deal.

+ After you've hired a good contractor and you're pleased with their work, SHARE their info with others. The goal is to get the names of good contractors out there to overshadow the bad ones!