NYC Contractors: Choosing a General Contractor
Submitted by The Landlord on October 13, 2005 – 10:41 pmNo Comment
As with any of the “hiring a contractor” steps documented on this blog, the advice is bound to sound the same and can be summed up in three words:
Do Your Homework
The idea of scanning the yellow pages for people I’m going to let into and work on my house, to me, sounds stupid..
Making sure you hire a reputable company
- Get references — an advantage you have when hiring a GC is that you can actually see work that was done to the exterior of the building (instead of taking a references subjective opinion) to judge for yourself the work that was done. So go and look at the jobs listed as references, don’t just call the reference.
- As always, make sure you get *everything* in writing. If the contractor can’t provide you an accurate on site estimate, move on to one that can. You want someone experienced enough to recognize a problem and know how to fix it, the estimate is one way of separating the pros from the hobbyists.
- If this is a large construction job, after the initial deposit, pay the next installment when framing begins. (obviously there may be some charges for materials but the next big payment after the deposit should be upon framing).
- Never pay cash, even if the contractor says he’s giving you a discount.
- Check with the subcontractors and find out how long they’ve been working with the contractor. The longer they’ve been with him, the better the chance they’ll show up for your job.
- Find out how many jobs the contractor is working on at one time. Any more than three, and he may have to much on his plate.
- Don’t make the final payment to the contractor until you’ve received the final inspection on your house.
New York City’s Department of Consumer Affairs has an excellent PDF document available for download titled “Home Improvement Consumer Guide.”
New York City Contractor License Database
Suffolk County Contractors License Search
Nassau County Office of Consumer Affairs
