DIY Home & Garden

By Raleigh Durham Kitchen Cabinets

So you have a contractor for your kitchen cabinet renovations that has been recommended by a friend, family, or you read about them on web services. This means you are guaranteed good service…right? Not necessarily. In the world of home service professionals nothing is for certain. You could go through all of the right steps in searching for a contractor and hire a contractor that everyone recommends….and still end up unsatisfied.

For instance, a member of our staff had received a recommendation for an HVAC repair contractor from an acquaintance. The contractor, lets call him Dave, seemed like a good guy and gave our staff member an unbelievable price on some air conditioning work he needed. His price and service were both great. Our staff member used him several other times over the course of a year. One job even involved a new installation, priced at several thousand dollars. Each time our staff member was happy with the price and service. He recommended Dave to several friends.

However, several months later our staff member learned that Dave had botched a job at one of his friend’s homes, and even took an up-front payment and never returned to perform the work. He later learned that another job Dave had performed was not completed and, again, Dave had taken money and disappeared. Finally, he discovered that Dave was not licensed to perform heat and air conditioning repairs and was operating under a false license number.

What happened with this situation? Well, our staff member later learned that Dave was filing for bankruptcy (another reason to be cautious of super low estimates…is the company making enough money to stay in business?). He was most likely trying to get as much money in as short of an amount of time to help with his personal financial situation. Also, he learned that Dave was moving to another state. This helps to explain how he blatantly had no regard for his customer’s feelings…he was not going to be in business long and knew it.

The story above goes to show how contractors can change over the course of time. Likewise, larger companies can hire new management or hire inexperienced labor that can affect the way the customers are satisfied with the company. Contractor’s customer satisfaction can change because of any of these situations.

How can you help avoid hiring the wrong contractor, despite the fact that they have excellent references?

• Ask for license and insurance information.
• Call the references and ask when the contractor performed their service….if there are no recent customers that should tell you something.
• Ask the contractor for their last 3 customer’s contact information vs. the referral list they may supply.
• Super low estimates should raise concern.
• Companies asking for entire payments upfront should raise concern.
• Verify address and contact information for the kitchen cabinet renovation company you hire.

Jim is an expert on Kitchen cabinet renovations and painting. Raleigh Durham Kitchen Cabinets

Article Source: Recommendations Are No Guarantee

Tags: Contractors // Add Comment »