And, speaking of insurance…
On the flip side of yesterday’s post (check it out if you have not seen it yet), is a reminder to make sure anyone doing work for you is insured, bonded, and licensed.
Any contractor you are looking to hire should be able to provide you with proof of insurance. They may or may not be required to be bonded and/or licensed, so do a little research to determine what documentation they should be expected to provide.
I remember when I was teaching riding lessons. It was just for a little extra money, and allowed Morgan to have a horse when I was going through college. Basically, the horse paid for herself.
Anyway, at that time, there were are a lot of riding instructors who were not insured. Yes, they could charge less, but what would happen if that instructor was liable for you or your child being injured?
You can bet that as someone who was paying insurance I made sure all of my equipment was in good working order and every rider wore a hard hat.
What good does it do you to hire an inexpensive contractor if (s)he causes damages, cannot afford to pay for them, and does not have insurance to make things right? At the end of the day, that inexpensive contractor was awfully expensive…
So, while it may be difficult for you to ask for proof (after all, you are basically telling the person you do not trust them enough to take them at their word), it is something you need to do.
A few other things to think of when hiring a contractor:
1. what is the timeline?
2. will any of the work be subcontracted out?
3. when will they start?
4. what is the payment schedule?
5. who is responsible to providing materials?
6. who is responsible for cleanup?
7. what happens if materials are not delivered/available on the scheduled date?
8. who is responsible for building permits or other permissions?
9. what happens if deadlines are missed?
And, make sure you get everything in writing.