You never get a second chance to make a first impression.
This admonition goes just as well on the reverse – when you meet a potential contractor for the first time you will need to get a good feeling for him at the outset. What kind of appearance is put forth? Sloppy, careless, dirty, little attention to detail?
Rather than brush these things aside: “Well, he is a contractor after all. I can’t expect a spit-shine,” think them through and make sure this is someone you want to do business with on a long-term basis.Attention to detail means that contractor will care about the parameters you set out to be followed.
This is one of the ways you can protect your business against contractors who tend to go over budget and over deadline. You are hiring someone to complete a project; and you don’t want it to drag on forever costing you time and money that you can ill-afford.
One of the first steps is to create a well-written, binding contract. This will be a contract in which all details are clearly spelled out for all parties involved. This is especially important when working with a contractor crew. When details are spelled out, disputes are kept at a minimum.
Can a contract be broken? Sure it can. But at least you will have in writing exactly what the two of you agreed to. And if the contract is broken, that will be one contractor who will not have a second chance with you and your business.
Another step to take, which I find that many rehabbers fail to implement, is to have a penalty system in place. Within that well-written contract you will set monetary penalties in place for going over deadline.
There are no set numbers for this step; do what works best for you. It needs to be enough to be a genuine deterrent against making a job drag out needlessly. So much per day over deadline, or perhaps so much per week. You decide.
These two steps can work to safeguard you against contractors who may tend to fail to do what they promised.
Once you have these steps in place, you will be way ahead of the game. And you will come off as a professional, even if this is your first rehab project! It could be the beginning of a great new business relationship. And finding a reliable contracting crew is pure gold to a rehabber!
