{"id":444,"date":"2011-02-15T22:12:57","date_gmt":"2011-02-16T04:12:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gnafriends.org\/?p=444"},"modified":"2011-02-15T23:06:36","modified_gmt":"2011-02-16T05:06:36","slug":"six-tips-hiring-contractor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gnafriends.org\/blog\/2011\/02\/six-tips-hiring-contractor\/","title":{"rendered":"Six tips to follow when hiring a contractor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Not too long ago I was at the Pflugerville Post Office, waiting in line, when I struck up a conversation with a gentleman. Our conversation turned naturally toward occupations and he told me he owned a roofing business. That led to us to talk about many things, but in particular the importance of referrals and business reputation.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"AARP article\" href=\"http:\/\/www.aarp.org\/money\/budgeting-saving\/info-12-2010\/better-business-bureau-new-grading-system.html\" target=\"_blank\">AARP Magazine<\/a> (Jan\/Feb 2011, p.24) suggests the BBB&#8217;s rating system isn&#8217;t a fair way to find reliable contractors. <!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The AARP article advises homeowners follow these six tips\u00a0 before\u00a0 hiring a contractor:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Get bid estimates from more than one contractor (at least 3 would be a start)<\/li>\n<li>Do a search on Google for business name and &#8220;complaints&#8221; and read consumer reviews,<\/li>\n<li>Consult licensing boards, especially electricians, AC, and plumbers. Consult the City&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cityofpflugerville.com\/DocumentView.aspx?DID=47\">homeowner&#8217;s guide<\/a> to building permits and inspection requirements.<\/li>\n<li>Ask for past customer references,<\/li>\n<li>Negotiate the maximum hourly rate beyond what you agree to as the expected project cost. This might protect you from higher estimates if the work changes.<\/li>\n<li>Read the &#8220;small print&#8221; on any contract you are asked to sign. Demand removal of any wording that puts a &#8220;contractor lien&#8221; on your property in case of a dispute.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In addition, <strong>AARP Magazine<\/strong> recommends these <a title=\"Steps to Hiring Contractor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.aarp.org\/home-garden\/home-improvement\/info-11-2008\/7_steps_to_hiring_a_contractor.html#commentarySlot\" target=\"_blank\">Seven Steps to Hiring a Contractor<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Do you have any home owner stories when this advice helped avoid problems? Maybe you&#8217;re a contractor; how do you see it from your side?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Be smart when hiring contractors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,26],"tags":[63,65,66,64],"class_list":["post-444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-articles","category-resources","tag-advice","tag-diy","tag-home-improvement","tag-money"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnafriends.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnafriends.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnafriends.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnafriends.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnafriends.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnafriends.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":505,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnafriends.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444\/revisions\/505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnafriends.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnafriends.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnafriends.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. The constant WPCACHEHOME must be set in the file wp-config.php and point at the WP Super Cache plugin directory. -->