STEP 1 IN LOCATING THE RIGHT CONTRACTOR FOR YOUR PROJECT

So you've made the decision to do some remodeling to your home. How do you find the right contractor for the job? Look in the phone book? Look on the Internet? Look in the classifieds?

While these resources can produce a large quantity of contractors for you to contact, how do you know if any of these contractors will do a good job for you? It is a roll of the dice. Just because a contractor has a nice looking add or website does not mean that they can perform well on the job.

Your best and safest means of locating a handful of quality contractors is to ask around. Ask your friends, ask your relatives, ask neighbors, and co-workers. Ask anyone that you know who has paid for remodeling services in the past. They will either have had a pleasant experience, or they will have had a terrible one. Either way, you will gain valuable information to help you make an educated decision on whom to contact for quotes. Obviously you should steer clear of contractors that don't receive raving reviews from their past clients. Without much effort at all, you can have a short list of contractors to invite to your home to discuss your job with.

So the best way to ensure that you find a good contractor to work with, is to start with a list of contractors recommended by others. If for some reason you are unable to gather any good recommendations , you will need to do some additional homework. Roll the dice and call several contractors that you find online or in the phone book. When calling, be prepared to give a brief description of the work you want done. Ask if it is the type of work their company does. Then ask for references. Ask specifically for 3-5 of the contractor's most recent clients. This way, you are getting a clear picture of how each contractor is performing at the present time. Once you have contacted the references and narrowed down your list to the best 2 or 3 candidates, you are ready for the next step.

Stay tuned for Step 2 in the process of finding the right contractor for your remodeling project.