Questions to Ask Remodeling Contractors and Their References

Questions to Ask a Home Remodeling Contractor

Before hiring a contractor to handle your home remodeling or addition project, take stock of your hiring options. Do some research and choose a handful of qualified local contractors to contact via phone or email. Ask them some or all of the following questions:

1. How much time will the remodel/home addition take to complete?
2. What is your approach to a project of this size? (This will help you know what to expect if you hire this company for your remodel or home addition.)
3. Will I be able to stay in my home during the remodel/home addition? If not, why?
4. Do you have any recent projects in my area where I can see how your work looks from the street?
5. Do you offer warranties and guarantees on your work? Will you put them in writing?
6. How would I handle future service issues? Are you responsible for warranty work if there’s ever a problem with my home addition/remodeling project?
7. What can I do to make the remodeling/addition process easier?
8. Can you meet my needs in terms of scheduling, project design and construction preferences?
9. Are you knowledgeable about the scope and details of my project? Can you tell me which designs and products best suit my needs?
10. Will you be sensitive to my budget? Can you offer various solutions and products to fit my resources?

The responses you receive to these questions (as well as your inquiry in general) will help guide your final hiring decision.

Questions to Ask a Remodeling Contractor’s References

In addition to interviewing remodeling contractors directly, ask each for a list of references—past customers who can tell you about their experience with the company. Any quality remodeling contractor should be happy to provide a list of five to 10 recent clients whom you can contact.

Here are some sample questions to ask a contractor’s references:

1. Were you satisfied with the work that the company did for you?
2. What was the type and scope of job that they did for you (room addition, kitchen remodel, bathroom remodel, whole home remodel, sunroom addition, basement remodel, home renovations)?
3. Did the contractor complete the work on time?
4. Did the contractor keep you up-to-date on the status of the project?
5. Were there unexpected costs? If so, what were they for and were they avoidable?
6. Did the contractor and their crew show up on time?
7. Did they clean up the jobsite after finishing the home renovations?
8. If you need home additions or remodeling work in the future, would you use this contractor again?
9. Would you recommend this remodeling firm to friends or family?

Keep in mind that references provided by remodeling contractors can be cherry-picked or even fake, so you’ll need to use your best judgment when researching them. To get greater assurance, consider hiring a Diamond Certified remodeling contractor. All Diamond Certified companies have passed an in-depth rating process that most other companies can’t pass. Part of this process involves conducting telephone interviews of actual customers. References provided by a remodeling contractor are not equal in value to the large, random sample of customers surveyed during the Diamond Certified rating process. So, if you want quality, you’ll have confidence choosing a Diamond Certified company.

Use Diamond Certified Resource to find top rated companies.

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