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Brandi Carballo
  • Investor
  • Independence, OR
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70
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How to find a contractor?

Brandi Carballo
  • Investor
  • Independence, OR
Posted Jul 28 2015, 08:43

I own a 4 plex in Salem, Oregon and I am purchasing a single family home there.

I have a property management company on my 4 plex, but I am moving to the area and plan on managing it myself from now on. 

I cannot, for the life of me, find contractors of any kind to do work. The only work I've been able to get done is the roof. 

I tried to find a general contractor to completely remodel a unit. I called every contractor I could find a number for, only 1 came out to the property to look and he never got a quote to me. We ended up doing the work ourselves.

I tried to get a plumber to come out and do the plumbing work, no one was available. The ones that were wanted to charge $75 to $150 to come out, look and give me an estimate. 

I had to have major electrical work done and I let the prop mgmt company hire the electrician they recommended. When I went to the property a week after the work was completed I found an uncovered junction box with about 10 live, bare electric wires sticking out in every direction. My property management company didn't even check the "completed" work. Now I can't find an electrician to do it correctly.

How do you find good contractors that are competent and reliable? 

Is it normal for contractors to charge a fee to give an estimate?

One of my friends suggested I may be having issues because I am a woman,  I would like to think that this is not the case. I am knowledgeable about home repairs and have no problem paying good contractors for good work. But I did decide to test her theory and had a guy friend who was knowledgeable call plumbers with even worse results than I had with GCs and electricians.

Ugh.

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