GILROY — When choosing a contractor for a building project, you should focus on three key aspects: the content of the bid, the content of the company’s referral list and the deposit amount (if any) requested at the contract signing.
Bid content 
When going over a bid, it’s important to know what to look for. First, the bid should be legible (preferably typed) to ensure clarity. Second, it shouldn’t simply give a vague sum for the job price; rather, it should include an itemized list of the various items and services to be performed, as well as major materials and appliances. Third, the sum total cost should indicate the contractor’s profit and overhead. Remember, these are always included in the cost, whether they’re accounted for in the final price or cunningly slipped within the numbers. Finally, the bid should include an approximate estimate of your job’s timeframe.
Referrals 
Referrals are important because they verify a contractor’s record and give you an idea of what it’s like to work with them. A good referral list will provide references from a variety of phases, including long-term clients, clients whose projects are currently in progress (who can give you an idea of the crew’s dependability) and clients whose projects have recently been completed (who can give you honest opinions of their experiences). You should also make sure all sources are verifiable—it’s easy for a dishonest contractor to falsify references.
Deposit amount 
It’s common for a contractor to ask for a deposit in advance of a job, but you need to be aware of the legal limitations to this request. In California, the maximum amount a contractor can collect at the contract signing is $1,000 or 10 percent of the job’s total cost—whichever is less. So, for a job estimated at more than $1,000, a contractor can collect no more than $1,000, and for a job estimated at less than $1,000, the most they can collect is 10 percent of the total projected cost. Once the contract is signed and the work begins, your contractor can ask for more money, but until then, the law states you don’t have to pay more than this allotted amount.

Considerations for Hiring a Contractor

Learn essential factors for hiring a contractor, from verifying credentials and insurance to assessing past work and client reviews.

Considerations for Hiring a Contractor by Richard Gallardo

by Richard Gallardo, a Diamond Certified Expert Contributor

Video: Assessing a Construction Bid

When going over a bid from a prospective contractor, there are a few things that you should keep an eye out for. Today, we ring Gilroy with Diamond Certified expert contributor, Richard Gallardo, RG Builders, to learn more.

Hi, I'd like to talk to you today about getting a bid from a contractor, or what should be a professional bid. But you should look for what I would look for in a professional bid. 

Is an itemized bid with all the different items that you're going to want done on your home. The other thing that's really important is that it be legible, preferably printed out on a piece of paper by a computer so that you can understand exactly what's going on and what those items are. 

Third would be a total included. You should have a total including profit and overhead if that's included in their costs. Profit and overheads are always included in the cost. If it's not shown to you at the bottom of the page, it slipped in within the numbers so that might be a question you want to ask. 

And lastly, for an approximate time or duration of the job and how long it will take. Those are usually the four things that I would look for in obtaining a bid from a general contractor. To learn more from local top-rated companies, visit our Diamond Certified expert reports at experts.diamondcertified.org.

Video: Assessing Contractor Referrals

When going over a bid from a prospective contractor, there are a few things that you should keep an eye out for. Today, we bring Gilroy with Diamond Certified expert contributor Richard Gallardo, RG Builders, to learn more.

Hi, I want to talk to you about referrals. Referrals are important in the sense of you get a good feel for the contractor that way. An important thing to look for is a couple of long-term clients, preferably clients that the contractor's done work for for over a decade. It's always nice. Secondly, would be clients that you've just started the project; you're going to get a really good feel from those people as to whether the contractor shows up and does his work and how his employees do their work. 

Thirdly, would be projects that the contractor's in the middle of, usually about the middle of the road. You know if any major problems have come up, you're going to -- you, if you call the referral, the referral be honest with you and let you know, gosh, you know that he handled this this way or he didn't handle this very well.

And then finally, the most importantly is projects that have just been completed recently, preferably within three to six months. Those people are going to give you an honest opinion of the contractor and how their work was done and whether they were completely satisfied by that contractor.

To learn more from local top-rated companies, visit our Diamond Certified expert reports at experts.diamondcertified.org.

Video: Legal Limits on Project Deposits

Below is the video transcript. Please add full stops, commas and paragraphs wherever required by analyzing the sentiments.

if your contractor asks for a deposit in advance of your building project, it's important to know the legal limitations to this request. Today we're in Gilroy with Diamond Certified expert contributor Richard Gallardo of RG Builders to learn more.

Hi, I'd like to talk to you about deposits for projects in the state of California. The most the contractor can collect at the time of signing a contract is a thousand dollars or ten percent, whichever is less. So on a job over a thousand dollars, a contractor could collect a thousand dollars. On a job under a thousand dollars, the most he can collect is ten percent. Those rules are fixed; they are the law. There is no fifty percent down, there's no twenty-five percent upfront. It's a thousand dollars upon signing a contract.

Once you've signed that contract and the contractor starts working on your home, then he can ask you for more money. Once equipment has arrived, people are working on the house, demolition is being done, then he can ask you for another check, but always at the signing of a contract, it's a thousand dollars max for any job over a thousand bucks or ten percent, whichever is less, according to the state law.

To learn more from local top-rated companies, visit our Diamond Certified expert reports at experts.diamondcertified.org.

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