Prequalifying Contractors
It is absolutely essential that you pre-qualify the contractors you will be working with on any given project. If you don’t ask the right questions before work begins you are potentially setting yourself up for trouble. One simple easy way of pre-qualifying contractors is through referrals. If someone you know and trust is able to refer a particular contractor to you…then great, that makes it very easy to at least know that you are dealing with a competent contractor. However, a quick interview is always a good idea.
In one of our rehabs, we failed to pre-qualify our stager. She was a distant acquaintance to someone we knew so we went ahead and decided to work with her. We didn’t ask any important questions that we now ask any potential stagers…which proved to be a big mistake. Some questions that we should have asked include:
1. Do you have a portfolio of previous work
2. How many houses have you staged in the past, how many were vacant as opposed to occupied.
3. What was the fastest time frame for selling one of your staged properties
4. What was the longest time it took for someone to sell one of your staged properties.
5. What does staging mean to you
6. What is your cost breakdown for staging rooms, helping with design ideas, and accessory charges
7. Are bathrooms priced the same as the other main rooms in the house
8. What if we are not pleased with how a particular room turns out
9. Is putting up curtain rods and mini-blinds part of your staging responsibilities
10. When do you prefer to walk through properties, before the project begins or near completion.
These are just 10 of many questions we now ask any prospective stager. By asking these questions we are able to avoid countless discrepancies, surprises, costs, etc. that we encountered with this particular individual. Having a set of interview questions for any contractor really helps start off any new business relationship with strong effective communication. It also reflects very good on you, because the contractor will see you as professional and efficient which will help them respect you as you deserve. By interviewing and prequalifying prospective contractors you will be doing yourself and your business a huge favor. Your projects will run much more smoothly and efficiently because you won’t be leaving room for error due to lack of communication. Take my word for it
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