What is the best process for shopping around and getting the best contractor to do rehab work at the best price without wasting a ton of time? If I had to meet every contractor in my area (NY/NJ), I would never get the job done...
What is the best process for shopping around and getting the best contractor to do rehab work at the best price without wasting a ton of time? If I had to meet every contractor in my area (NY/NJ), I would never get the job done...
It will take you forever if you try to find the best contractor at the best price because all you will find at the best price is the crooks and the guys that don't have a clue to what they are doing. Find someone that comes highly recommended from a friend, family, real estate agent, etc who charges a fair price and you will have a sucessful project anything less and you are gambling.
Remember if you can't afford to do it right in the first place can you really afford to redo it.
I just joined my local Chamber of Commerce and attended a Meet 'n Greet breakfast. The man sitting next to me was a licensed contractor. Whoo hoo! I took his card, he gives free estimates. He's been a member for quite a while. I don't know the quality of his work yet but anyone who would join the Chamber and attend meetings is less likely to be a crook I would think.
You can try online services such as servicemagic.com and contractor.com for free. The best sites for contractors are probably pay sites like angieslist.com and checkbook.org but it depends on where you are located. Also try bbb.com for a list of thier prequalified contractors. Last but not least, read my site at fliprent.com for more details.
If you follow up with everything in this post you should have enough information to start.
I used servicemagic.com to hire a painter and had a good experience.
I've had many great experiences using servicemagic and one potential bad one. The bad one was when someone quoted me a price that was triple what the other contractors quoted me. Lets just say that he never got the job.
Joshua Dorkin, BiggerPockets, Inc.
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