You could write a book on this subject but if you follow this advice or a variation of it, it'll minimize the damage if things go south.
I would adjust that to "try to not change plans part way through". It is your house, your money. Get what you want. Just don't be surprised if it costs more and/or takes longer when you change your mind.
This is the very best advice when dealing with contractors.
Again, that's why you should check everything out with the county and/or CLB (as stated above).
That's the challenge. It's a sellers market. Make too many demands on a potential contractor and they will just move on to less demanding customers. This puts the homeowner between a rock and a hard place if they want to get a project done.
It's the reality. I am having a pool in and the initial deposit was "only" 5k,but the next payment is 50k and that's to break ground. At least the balance is due on the day they apply plaster. If I wanted a pool, that was needed to be spent.
Crazy that people think the size of a company means they pay their bills.
Check your state contractor licensing website, many states have maximum down payment amounts. Read it carefully, sometimes a contractor can do work up to $25,000 without a license, and some types of work don’t require a license at all. If your project is regulated and you think the contractor is doing something wrong (business wrong, not quality wrong) contact the state board.
Know your contract VERBATIM.
I have no concerns with anyone I have hired and am not super concerned with state law on this. I don't check licenses on everyone and also don't always check insurance. It depends on the project scale, experience with the contractor and other factors.
The problem was too many people in between me and the supplier. I took the suppliers advice (my bad not to get it in writing). But it still ended up working out, I just had to chase the guys in the middle to pay up. Luckily for me they did.
I started looking for a contractor about a year after we had hurricane damage in the area. Everyone was busy, as expected. Few called back & almost none actually came to look at the project. I called the License Board to get a list of contractors because some get their jobs by word of mouth & don't advertise. I called back to check on one of them & was told "yes, he's licensed, & no, we don't have any complaints". He was polite & sincere during negotiations, & right up to getting the permits issued. THEN he told me his "supervisor" would be handling the job. I didn't see him for a month or more after the job started, & when I did he had an attitude & was claiming I was going to be angry with him. I told him I didn't see why I would be, his crew was there every day & doing a good job. He soon corrected that, made me angry, made his crew angry, went through three different subs for everything, & was sued by two other customers! My being on site with a camera kept him from screwing me several times & cost him a lot of money doing things two & three times. The License Board wasn't much help........
The contractor for my garage took a down payment that amounted to 3.3% of the initial estimated total. This may be unusual but it happens.
When did you make your next payment? Did he actually start work at 3.3%?
Next payment was about three months later. It covered excavating, most concrete, some framing labor, some framing material, various odds and ends, and the contractor fee. It was about 30% of total project cost.
You can get by with not checking licenses, the person at risk is the contractor if the state decides to check. But not checking insurance can be a major risk to you.
Yup. Absolutely.