Why Don't Contractors Return Phone Calls??

[danski0224]

With all these horror stories, it's no wonder guys don't want to be contractors anymore. We spend more time trying to prove we are not crooks than showing past work or our credentials. Kind of sad. So much bias against people BEFORE they even open their mouths. I find it ironic that with so very much information at our fingertips, that people aren't more informed. I said it in other threads. Good contractors LOVE an informed homeowner. Forget the rest...keep trying...you may have top hire from further out and pay a little more, but ya get what ya pay for and your area may be devoid of decent guys. I'd offer to do some of the work, but SE OHIO? Kinda far. Good luck.

-Tony

+1

I bet most of the people here making the crook comments wouldn't even think for a second about trying to screw over a contractor by changing the scope of work or not paying for extras.

Or, the old "You should have known that was a problem... looks like your bid is a bit short".

It's a 2 way street.

 

[Conner Ave]

Unless, by virtue of repeat business and proper organization and coordination of the site the general gets a significant discount from subs that actually show up.
Have you tried contacting the local homebuilders association? Most have member list and they tend to be the more established contractors.
It is important to have professional plans and written specifications that make sense.
Good luck.

 

[Holedgr]

Unless, by virtue of repeat business and proper organization and coordination of the site the general gets a significant discount from subs that actually show up.
Have you tried contacting the local homebuilders association? Most have member list and they tend to be the more established contractors.
It is important to have professional plans and written specifications that make sense.
Good luck.

Great ideas!

 

[Frank The Plumber]

I have an idea you may not all embrace, you may try contacting your areas local union council. They should have a list of local union contractors that are professional, granted some may be priced a bit high for you but at the very least you will get your calls returned, hopefully, you should get qualified professional work, and most will be listed with your local BBB. Hey the worst that can happen is you get high quotes in your opinion.

 

[ket-tek]

It's unfortunately too common these days. They all cry about the economy and say they don't have the work to keep their crews busy, yet they either won't return phone calls, or bid the jobs way to high..

You're right!! The general contractors that I've talked to want between 15-20%.

I wish I could find some that only mark it up 15-20%! Can't find any GC's going that low around here, more like 100% and up..

 

[ishiboo]

exact same thread:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=83272

Yuppers. I have investment properties too and I pay on time and make sure everything's fair, and that's also a selling point when I get bids. I ended up talking to 5 people and got a single quote back.

One of the people I asked for a quote for is who I lease my shop from; he laid his whole crew off and builds buildings with subs now, but he couldn't be bothered to give me a quote.

People want money but they want it handed to them! Lots of lazy contractors.

 

[pprince]

I would keep away from any plumbers that blame potential customers for a problem. Seems defensive to me.

 

[rhastings80]

Another thought it may be worth getting an Angies List account for a month and trying to find somebody good. I have had good luck using angies list in the past. It does cost something like 10 or 20 bucks for the first month.

 

[robertwhite]

Have you tried contacting the local homebuilders association? Most have member list and they tend to be the more established contractors.
.

I have an idea you may not all embrace, you may try contacting your areas local union council.

Not to be argumentitive, but those of us who live in rural or even semi rural areas would have a wee bit of a problem with those options. They don't even require licences anywhere around here. Most businesses wear 2 hats (auto repair and roofing or tree service and sheriff )

 

[Daniel Dudley]

If someone wants to be their own contractor, I work time and they pay for materials. I did a job last fall for a guy who needed a serious amount of complicated framing done. I brought in two guys and was out of there in 7 days, roof sheathed and dried in for the winter. On the second day, I said, ''Look, I can do this the way you want me to, but it will cost you 10,000 dollars, and you might have water damage to the original house.''.

He swallowed hard, and listened to me. He is happy now though. I have been doing this for thirty years. I have overhead. I can size up a customer in 15 minutes, and if you don't give me the right answer, that is the end of our association. Even so, one out of five customers is a real gem, and one out of five will make me suffer for every dime, and take up my head space 24/7.

I have NEVER in 30 years ever failed to provide product to the standard required, and yet many of my clients refuse to listen to polite suggestions, because they ''know'' they are smarter than I am.

When you talk to a builder, tell him what you want, and what you are willing to do or provide. Then ASK him how he thinks you should proceed. I will give a 20% discount to people who are nice and really need a break. But most of my clients are much better off than I am, so tell me again why I should put my life aside to help you get ahead ?

 

[Frank The Plumber]

I would keep away from any plumbers that blame potential customers for a problem. Seems defensive to me.

You did read that this gentleman is searching for a concrete contractor did you not?

 

[mpraddict]

Coming from 20 years dealing with contractors (on the architectural side), my thoughts:
- Subcontractors are typically lousy communicators (not all, but it seems to be the majority)
- The general contractor spends just as much time trying to track down subs (even getting them to show up on the jobsite when they're supposed to). In time, a GC finds good subs and they get repeat business.
- Residential subs seem to be even worse than the ones that do predominantly commercial work
- Certain sub trades seem to be worse than others, concrete, masons, and excavators come to mind as the top 3 offenders

 

[Chrisk327]

I'm in the process of doing an addition to my house with myself and my brother in law as the general contractors. the experience has been eye opening. He has a background in doing this stuff, can do a kitchen or bath remodel but on a second story addition its more than him and his father can handle, so we're subbing a lot out.

From what I've found, if you're not in the club, you're going to stuggle. He knows what he's doing and he can't get a lot of people to call back. If they don't know you, or you don't know someone they know.... you're a bit SOL. luckily we've known a handful of subs for various things, and through a bit of a painstaking process were able to get people to do the jobs that we were missing.

siding was the worst, unless you wanted to pay ripoff retail from someone with a full page ad in the paper, getting a call back was horrible, even from guys that were recommended from teh supplyhouses. finnally our framer took pity on us and gave us his friend's number and called the guy. The guy said if Gerard didn't say you were good people, I wouldn't have even called you back....

end result, I'm happy with the house, we are getting exactly what we want. but i do beleive the only money we saved was by doing certian aspects ourselves. I'm not kidding myself that I got much of a discount. any discount you get from sub pricing is probably going to be canceled out from the PITA factor they put on doing jobs for home owners...

 

[Conner Ave]

Not to be argumentitive, but those of us who live in rural or even semi rural areas would have a wee bit of a problem with those options. They don't even require licences anywhere around here. Most businesses wear 2 hats (auto repair and roofing or tree service and sheriff )

No license requirement in my rural area but there is a Homebuilders association. All 50 states have one and nearly every county in every state through the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).

 

[Conner Ave]

It's unfortunately too common these days. They all cry about the economy and say they don't have the work to keep their crews busy, yet they either won't return phone calls, or bid the jobs way to high..



I wish I could find some that only mark it up 15-20%! Can't find any GC's going that low around here, more like 100% and up..

They must have suspended the law of supply and demand in your area.Where do you get you 100% figure?

 

[bczygan]

Two problems that stick out:
1. You are a one time GC. You have nothing to offer but this one job. No continuing work.
2. You are a new GC and untested. More risk for the sub.

In general, the good contractors that are left have been through the wars. They will be very picky and will be very good about seeing all your, and your jobs shortcomings. You have a big sales job to get them to take your job over other easier and more profitable ones. The fact that you want to save money by acting as GC is just the first warning flag. Who did your drawings? Do you have a good estimate put together? Do you have all materials selected? Do you have a schedule (Timeline)? What is your schedule of disbursements? What is the inspection, approval and disbursement process? How quick do they get paid after approval?
Things also work better with subs that are used to working with each other. Half the problem in construction is subs destroying each others work. Crews that regularly work together for one GC have worked some of this out.

 

[cheap bastard]

They must have suspended the law of supply and demand in your area.Where do you get you 100% figure?

The GCs are getting close to that here. It's seems crazy, but they believe they are giving away their services if they can't make those profit levels. Hungry subs are out there, though. Ya just gotta find them.

 

[bczygan]

+1

I bet most of the people here making the crook comments wouldn't even think for a second about trying to screw over a contractor by changing the scope of work or not paying for extras.

Or, the old "You should have known that was a problem... looks like your bid is a bit short".

It's a 2 way street.

The overriding law that we, as GC's went by, was that a gross mistake by a sub could NOT be taken advantage of. A sub could price himself tight, even to the point of making little or no profit, but a math mistake that was just a major clerical error did not sweeten our pot. Case law supports this.

 

[David79z28]

Same issue around here. Then try to get them to fix something that they screwed up. Even if you hold back money.. Seams like they are busy enough not to care!!

I finally found one that is as proud of his work as several of you seam to be. I refer him to everyone!!!

They are good ones out there, they are just hard to find....

 

[Ron Lombardo]

.... the small guys are slow right now ... the larger contractors are not ... but the larger guys have the staff to return calls and schedule work and the small guys are the ones lowering there prices ... working their *** off for little or now profits ...so they cant afford to pay a girl in the office to answer there calls and schedule their work.

There is no riddle to all of this.

In the contracting business lets use for example concrete .... the cost per yard is about the same from all the suppliers .. the labor depends if your hiring MEN with families or Illegals or Kids ... but I have to say if you hire MEN with families they show up everyday and know their trade .. but you have to pay them fairly .... but you get production twice of what you get from illegals and kids ... and the quailty work is far superior.

So price is based on production and quality.

My advice ...stop calling the one man shops and dont be scared to call the big GC's and MEchnical Companies ... most are far superior and customer service is far superior to the small guys.

R

 

[Ripped]

I built houses on spec for many years, and when the profit margins went lower, I switched from the bigger high risk jobs, and did renovations for a a few years.

About one year into the renovation industry, I completely dropped doing residential work.

Reasons, were several;
1. As a licensed/insured contractor, I was competing against guys with a pickup truck and a nail pouch, who called themselves contractors. Homeowners were more than happy to hire these guys.
2. Homeowners more than 80% of the time, wanted work done without permits.
3 Homeowners didn't have a clue, about the prep work required to do a job properly.
4. Homeowners used quotes from licensed contractors to leverage unlicensed contractors to cut their prices.
5. They just needed three quotes for their home insurance company, so they could get a cash settlement and hire an unlicensed contractor to do the work.
6. They usually wanted to cut the price even further upon job completetion.

You get what you pay for, and I refused to lower my standards.
There's more, but I made the switch to commercial renovations, tennant improvements, and dropped residential 100% I was more than happy to compete against other skilled and licensed contractors.

If you "think" that you want to get a quality contractor to do your work then you need to;
1 Be prepared
2 Check all your permit requirements
3 Get a set of plans professionally done
4 Prepare a proper budget, with contingency funds
5 Be prepared to section off a safe work area (not a cluster f@(k!)
6 Educate yourself on cost of materials
7 Prepare a schedule

Good luck!

 

[CreekRat]

What I can't seem to reconcile is all the homeowners that are saying they can't find a contractor and all the contractors giving reasons why they don't or won't work for homeowners; all the while we are getting the sky is falling economic reports from the media.

This is a legitimate question; Where are the contractors working if the housing industry is a bust? Have they just closed up shop or is there more building & renovation going on than is being reported? I can't imagine contractors going hungry on the principle that they won't work for a know nothing/out to get them homeowner.

 

[dlenkewich]

There might be something about the job that they dont like.

Agreed.

From another proffessional contractor here, don't take this to hard, but unfortunatley a lot of tradesman don't wish to do "Privates" (I'm not one of them before I get a rock thrown my way).

It's all good when you want to save money, but a lot of people can't admit to themselves that they can't handle running a job-site, and it can cause a lot of headaches for those doing the job. Biggest factors I see - 1: Scheduling/time budgeting, 2: Site order and cleanliness.

Not to say you can't do a good job, but a lot of people out there think they can have 5 trades in on one day or that someone else will take care of the garbage and that it takes work to maintain a schedule.

This may or may not be the issue, just an idea. It isn't right for them to not call back, but this is the world we live in, today. Perhaps try offering an email, a lot of people now prefer communicating by text versus face or voice, even customers.

 

[cowboyjosh]

I built houses on spec for many years, and when the profit margins went lower, I switched from the bigger high risk jobs, and did renovations for a a few years.

About one year into the renovation industry, I completely dropped doing residential work.

Reasons, were several;
1. As a licensed/insured contractor, I was competing against guys with a pickup truck and a nail pouch, who called themselves contractors. Homeowners were more than happy to hire these guys.
2. Homeowners more than 80% of the time, wanted work done without permits.
3 Homeowners didn't have a clue, about the prep work required to do a job properly.
4. Homeowners used quotes from licensed contractors to leverage unlicensed contractors to cut their prices.
5. They just needed three quotes for their home insurance company, so they could get a cash settlement and hire an unlicensed contractor to do the work.
6. They usually wanted to cut the price even further upon job completetion.

You get what you pay for, and I refused to lower my standards.
There's more, but I made the switch to commercial renovations, tennant improvements, and dropped residential 100% I was more than happy to compete against other skilled and licensed contractors.

If you "think" that you want to get a quality contractor to do your work then you need to;
1 Be prepared
2 Check all your permit requirements
3 Get a set of plans professionally done
4 Prepare a proper budget, with contingency funds
5 Be prepared to section off a safe work area (not a cluster f@(k!)
6 Educate yourself on cost of materials
7 Prepare a schedule

Good luck!

Couldn't agree more. Im a builder in Colorado and Arizona and own an electrical contracting business in another state; in the home building business, I only build custom homes, dirt start, no specs and NO REMODELING EVER. I will not remodel a bathroom, garage, finish a basement (after initial construction if it wasn't finished during construction), or do anything outside of normal warranty type work. There are times after a home I built suffers a loss from say a fire, I have gone back and "rebuilt" but thats the extent of remodel work I'll do. When building a home we subcontract so much of it anyways if someone calls later and wants a deck put on the house I usually refer them to a deck builder who I might have subbed the job out to but I will not act as the GC to their remodel project after closing.

 

[Mr. Welsh]

I don't think there's any excuse for these Mickey Mouse contractors failing to communicate their intentions after meeting with a customer.

They're just bad businessmen.

It is rather ridiculous that all you read these days is how easy it is to find contractors, how the cost of building materials has fallen, labor is plentiful, and how you'll get multiple bids on any project...and then after weeks of calling around you can't even get a price on a simple garage.

 

[ducati]

I started out with quoting about 15 posts, but I decided against it. I went out on my own 17 years ago as a G.C. Some things in this thread just crack me up.

1. I don't advertise and haven't for probably the last 15 yrs. I don't need the 20 calls a day with someone looking for the cheapest price. I know that isn't going to be me nor is it the work I want. I would say over 90% of my business is referral.

2. If you think G.C.'s are making 20% profit, I would like to get a hold of a few of them so they can teach me what I'm doing wrong. Don't get me wrong, I will add 15% to a job, but that is no where near take home. My insurance is around the $20k per year mark just for General Liability insurance, Insurance that I have to carry to cover projects under construction, tools and equipment. We won't even get into Workman's Comp, Unemployment, and having to pay 7.65% of wages for employee's or myself that the normal people that aren't self-employed don't have to pay. If I end up with 10% after it is all said and done, it was a good profit job. I still get to pay Uncle Sam on that 10% as well.

3. Most companies don't want to work with the do it yourself crowd. It tends to be more of a pain in the a** then the profit is worth, then you also have to question, I'm I going to get paid and how much screwing around am I going to have to do to get paid. A sub (I was one before I went out on my own) wants to work for a general because their screw around factor just got cut by 75%. They know they will be paid (A G.C. that doesn't pay his bills will set across the county in about 2 days and everyone will know in short order. Construction workers are like high school cheerleaders, everyone knows all the gossip. My subs never wait more than about 10 days for payment)

4. As a couple of the other people posted, I will find out what your rough budget is the first time I meet with you. If you want a Lexus on a Yugo budget, I'm not wasting my time or my sub's time bidding your job. I will however say that this project will require $*** budget and when you come to that conclusion I will be more than happy to work with you.

Now for the O.P.

It sounds like you want to be your own G.C. which there is nothing wrong with that. If you think you are going to end up saving 20% by doing it yourself, it won't happen. You will need to line up an excavator, a concrete company, a supplier for your raw materials, a framer, a roofer, a sider, an electrician, an insulator, a drywaller, a garage door company, a gutter company, a painter, a landscaper. You won't get the same price on any of this as someone that builds 10+ projects a year. You are a one time client to these subs and they will price accordingly. When it is all said and done, you will probably save some money, 5-7%, but you need to ask yourself if that little bit of money is worth you having to warranty the building yourself, and the amount of time you have to put into it, if it is worth your time. It might have some person reward that you did it. It might be a project that you can enjoy doing, but be realistic of what it is really going to cost to do.

I know I do a lot of things myself that aren't part of my job, like restore old cars, I save some money by doing it, but it is more about the finished product and saying that I did that. Trust me I haven't saved a lot, but I do have a lot of shinny tools.

 

[southernfriedcj]

...how the cost of building materials has fallen...

The cost of building materials (and permits, water meters, sewer taps) is up across the board. The laws of supply & demand does not seem to affect building materials.

I am a builder who has built 700 homes. I have two homes under construction now.



As far as the subject of this thread goes, I charge $250 per hour for consultation & bidding.
I am like an attorney. I do not work for free.
It is my experience that a homeowner will think nothing of wasting several day of a contractors time if a contractor lets them.

 

[dirttracker18]

It is good to hear from some contractors. We know there are good ones out there that take their job seriously and deserve a reasonable compensation for such.
However, that does not excuse a contractor for not calling back. If this is not what you want say so. If you do not like to work with private owners why even show up for the consultation?
I went through this when I built my garage. I needed to sub out some of the work and many people would come out, look things over and say they will get back to me and never do it. Total **** and a waste of my time as well as their's.
When I was originally looking to build I ask for a number of estimates, all of which came back way over what it should. That being said, most contractors were very busy here at the time and did not need the work. One guy, apparently a reputable contractor, sent me his estimate with a bill for $250 for the estimate. I told him to go pound sand. No mention was made of a cost for the estimate prior and he was the only one that did so. He threaten to sue me for the $250 bill. Nice doing business with you I told him very calmly and as nice as I could that I would not be paying his bill and that he should have been up front about it instead of trying to sneak it in. I ended up paying to fly in a contractor from out of town to do the work I needed. Ya I now it sounds crazy but we are a little secluded here and the nearest city is a 1000 miles in any direction.

More recently I attemped to get estimates to have my cathedral ceiling spray foamed. Out of the 4 companies I called for an estimate, only one called me back. Considering most guys are crying for business now, that was sad to see.

Sorry for the rant but I too am tired of unbusiness like contractors. I wish I could just find a few I could trust to do the work and do it right. I don't mind paying for quality work, I do mind paying anything for laziness and lack of passion for what they do.

I am in the planning stages of an addition to our house in the next 5 years and the entire idea scares me. More and more I am thinking of taking on the entire project myself.

 

[pprince]

For heavens sakes...the OP wants to build a garage not a house.

This is not rocket science.

This level of customer service abounds everywhere and not just in the building trades although it does seem to be much worse.

 

[Ron Lombardo]

" This is a legitimate question; Where are the contractors working if the housing industry is a bust? "

My present work load inlcudes mostly Public Works where you need to put up a Bond ..this involves signing personal.

State University Projects
State Waste Water Treatement Plants
State Water Purification Plants.
County Maintnenance Contracts
School Construction Authority Work

This is guranteed money funded by a goverment who has alocated money to fix inferstructure and preserve our way of life and make this a priority.

This is how we are feeding our families .. if I rrelied on residential construction I would be starving.

Ron

 

[John in OH]

" This is a legitimate question; Where are the contractors working if the housing industry is a bust? "

My present work load inlcudes mostly Public Works where you need to put up a Bond ..this involves signing personal.

State University Projects
State Waste Water Treatement Plants
State Water Purification Plants.
County Maintnenance Contracts
School Construction Authority Work

This is guranteed money funded by a goverment who has alocated money to fix inferstructure and preserve our way of life and make this a priority.

This is how we are feeding our families .. if I rrelied on residential construction I would be starving.

Ron

So, Ron .... if I called you and left a message asking you to call me about building a garage, would you call me back and let me know that residential work is not the kind of work you do .... or would you just ignore the call?

Or, maybe ..... like others have done ..... would you call me back, set up an appointment, come out to the house and look over the job, tell me you'll get back to me in a few days with a price, and then never call again?

 

[Ron Lombardo]

If you called .. you would be directed to 5 different depts. Estimating would answer your call and tell you to email the plans ... if they were incomplete like most residential plans are we would quote you a budget # and from there we would develope the relationship further. Out resdiential Ligh Commercial work is based on relationship and quality. We mostly do plan and spec work where the plans and spec are fully developed.

From there you would decide ... as SY SIMS says " A Educated Comsumer is our best customer". We are not a Home Depot or discount house ... we provide a quailty product which contrary to what we are brainwashed to believe ... there are still people willing to pay for this ...

R

 

[2chipped]

We had a lady ordered a 20ft vinyl fence (all core drilled) to be installed at her house on fri...........but she needed brick work done first and the work was not finished which meant that I didn't work mon ,or yesterday.
After 8 hrs today ,I was not finished
At the same time we bid 800ft of horse fence which has to be completed by thurs.
Now due to the delay of the lady not having the masons completing there work(I don't know why)she will have to wait till I can fit her in our schedule to finish.
We don't dislike her,but we have the next customers to consider.

Construction is like a sub contractor bucket brigade watched over by a gc.
If the gc sees a sub can't keep the buckets moving he's replaced with a better one at the next fire/event.
You don't have the experience/respect of the subs to know if you can keep the brigade moving...this throws red flags because your trying to "save your money" and mabe, waste his time and reputation on his next job.
A good sub will fit you in "his " schedule if your build date is to close....because good subs get most of the work.

Showing up and then not turning in a bid is either red flags =doesn't think your experienced, will waste his time and reputation, he has better work,or he's lazy and doesn't care.

Talk to someone that has had a great local experience and use them.

Good luck.

 

[REAL HOT SCHITT]

Hi from n.z
i guess i at the top end for finnish and efficiency on completed works.

Yeah, regarding this "non return of calls", i was hard up due to resession a few years ago and had to go find a month or so of work welding and setting up a ice plant for fish processing plant.

The job was mainly pipework and concrete work.

This 1 job could ve been polished off in 2 weeks but it took a month.

I ask the contractor why we aint working full 8 hr days but just 2 and a 1/2 per day stringing it out?.

He said it makes people think we are busy on other jobs and a popular contractor of choice for customers...... We burned time fishing and preping boat.

This guy said if theres a quite time u got to tell people that your busy and only got so much time to share amongst jobsites, and if u spin some tech jargon saying something has to cure or settle the customer wouldnt known anY wiser.

 

[oldgoat]

I usually just have a problem with getting a contractor to come out to give a estimate on a job I want done. A few years ago I needed to have a new heating and AC system put in and go from a unit under the house to unit outside. Called several places but only got two to give me a return call and only one of them came out to give a estimate. Told all of them over the phone I was ready to have the unit changed and I had the money. Guess they didn't want to earn it.

 

[Davefr]

You're right!! The general contractors that I've talked to want between 15-20%. Since I'm retired I have the time to do the foot-work and coordination between the subs and save myself the general's commission.

Hiring a GC is the best money you'll spend. They know who's good and who's bad. They have clout over the subs and will hold them accountable to certain standards.

The subs will cater to the GC because they know the GC will influence any future work they get.

If you plan the be the GC then the subs will walk all over you. They'll be gone in the middle of the job if one of their regulars calls them in. You won't have any clout over the subs.

You're also forgetting that the terrible economy has thinned out a lot of subs.

For any substantial project hire a GC.

 

[dirttracker18]

Ok I still believe the contractors we way off not calling back but . . .

How does one find out who a GOOD GC is? I have found that a guy can give you references to call but who knows who those people are or what their relationship to the GC might be. Yes this sounds mistrusting but there are too many unscrupulous people out there jsut to make a buck that don't take pride in what they do.

As I stated earlier I am willing to pay for good work but that is hard to find now.

So to the contractors, subs and GC's out there, what do we as clients/customers need to look for? What are the signs? Any tell tales to be weary of? What should I be doing to project that I am a good customer to work with/for?

I have a few substantial projects needed to be completed this summer and would love the advice.

 

[Ironcrow]

How does one find out who a GOOD GC is?

The good ones won't call you back. They're very busy

 

[stevefasano]

removed due to

 

[ducati]

Ok I still believe the contractors we way off not calling back but . . .

How does one find out who a GOOD GC is? I have found that a guy can give you references to call but who knows who those people are or what their relationship to the GC might be. Yes this sounds mistrusting but there are too many unscrupulous people out there jsut to make a buck that don't take pride in what they do.

As I stated earlier I am willing to pay for good work but that is hard to find now.

So to the contractors, subs and GC's out there, what do we as clients/customers need to look for? What are the signs? Any tell tales to be weary of? What should I be doing to project that I am a good customer to work with/for?

I have a few substantial projects needed to be completed this summer and would love the advice.

Find out how long they have been in business, hop on the internet and search your public records if they have been drug into court. Get references and call them. They will give you a reference of someone that they know is happy, but you can talk to those people and even though they are happy, it doesn't mean that they liked everything. How knowledgeable are they? Do you feel comfortable with their answers?

Will they talk bad about other builders? If they will, they aren't professional. I have been asked countless times about one of my competitors. My response will always be the same, "I don't talk about other builders, you (the customer asking for the dish) have to come to the conclusion of who you will think will work the best for you." I then proceed to point out things my house has and why I do those things. (I damn well know builder X isn't doing this, but by educating my customer I can point out why my house is better without talking bad about anyone)