Dealing with a contractor for residential construction might be challenging for many especially for those who are the first-timers. Even before dealing, hiring is also no less than a challenge. However, the journey does not have to be stressful always if you know the right tricks to hire and deal with them. When it comes to hiring a, you need to keep certain things in mind to reach out to a reliable construction company like
- Contractor’s experience
- Reputation in the market
- License
- Good reference and
- Service charges
After finalizing the deal with the contractor, your focus should be on getting the best work from him for which you need to make sure that you have a clear agreement and expectations even before his team starts working on your property. Besides this, maintaining good communication with them is also very important throughout the process. Here are some useful tricks that will help you deal with your contractor successfully.
1. Maintain good communication
As mentioned above, maintaining good communication with your contractor is the key to establish a healthy relationship with them. You can always ask your contractors about their preferred mode of communication. You can stay in touch with them in the following ways
- By visiting the project location and having a conversation with the contractors every day before their work begins
- Keeping in touch with the project manager on a regular basis
- Having your contractors’ phone number and their consent to call or message anytime
2. Use a project journal
Keeping a project journal can be extremely helpful for your project where you can
- Keep the track of your project
- Write down the queries you have for your contractor
- Note down your ideas
- Mention upcoming delivery date
- Record products and delivery numbers
3. Keep the track of all changes in written forms
Structural problems are unpredictable and may occur anytime during the project or you may even add up work as the project moves ahead. An efficient contract handles such changes very easily. However, to stay in the safer side you must ensure that the contractor gives the details of such changes in a written form. It is better to mention the details of these changes in the remodeling contract. Here, your contractor will get the scope to make the changes in the fee structure as well. Both you and your contractor can give each other’s consent to the changes by signing in the contract before the work is done.
4. Check the work properly
Be practical while checking the work of your contractor. The most appropriate time to do that is when the entire team has left the location for a day. Your project journal can be very much helpful here as you can match everything mentioned in the project journal with the final work like
- Comparing the details of appliances and fixtures against your receipts and invoices to confirm that the right products are sent
- Checking the areas of doors and windows opening against the blueprints
- Pointing out any quality related issues that catch your eyes
5. Make payments only when the work is completed
Your contract details should divide the payment into various steps throughout the entire project. For instance your contract could specify that you need to make your payment in three or four installments and the final payment should be cleared at the last step of the project. However, you should never pay more than 10% before the project completion.
6. Be a friendly customer
As a client, you do have the right to expect good quality work from your contractor but to ensure that sometimes you need to be a good customer as well so that their interest in working with your sustains. You can do the following to be a friendly client for your contractor
- You can call them by their names in each morning
- Arranging a bathroom for their regular use
- Offering them cold lemonade on a sunny day
- Appreciating their work as long as you feel worthy
Whether you are in search of a residential or commercial construction company, these above mentioned tips will help you find the best match for your general contracting Mississauga project.
