What You Need to Ask Your Contractor

Steel buildings might be simple and straightforward to put up, but there still exists the need for some to hire a contracting company in order to get the job done right. Maybe, as a property owner, you have little to no experience actually putting up structures and would rather it be done by a professional team. Others might want plenty of customization options that are outside of their own skill set. Either way, it’s important to choose the right contracting company when making your decision. Here are just a few questions you should ask a prospective contracting company before you make your final pick!

How Long Have You Been In Business?

This is an extremely important question to ask especially with the amount of fly-by-night contracting companies out there. Not only do you need to know how long they’ve been in business, but how long they’ve been operating in the particular city or region you’re going to be building in. This sets up their credibility as well as their experience dealing with building codes specific to a region. Everywhere you go across the country, there will be different ways of going about getting permits and understanding the regulations surrounding how big your building is allowed to be, where it’s able to go and so much more. Working with a contracting company that understands this in depth will make the project run much more smoothly.

Can I Meet Whoever Will Be In Charge Of The Job Site?

Every job site will have a main contact, or a foreman, and sometimes it might be a different person than the representative you speak to from the contracting company. It’s important to establish if you can meet whoever that might be so you can get a feel for their work ethic and explain your project goals directly.

Can You Give Me A Timeline?

The mark of a great contracting company is one that can provide you with a comprehensive timeline of when the work should be completed. This is also going to be much more probable with companies with years of experience and a full understanding of how every part of your project will go.

How Much Money Will I Have To Put Down?

Knowing how much money you’ll have to deposit in order to start your project is imperative so that you can plan and budget for when that payment is due. The amount might be the make or break in whether or not you go with that particular contracting company, so find out that information as early as you can. Having a full understanding of your project and making your plans very clear from the beginning will make it easier for them to gauge what the deposit will be – unless they have a standard amount across the board. This should be one of the first things you find out!

Which Subcontractors Will You Be Using?

This is an important question mainly because it’s the general contracting company who does the hiring for any specialized subcontractors – not you. It only makes sense that you’ll want to stay in the loop about who else will be working on your job site, their respective reputations and previous work. The same way you would vet the general contracting company, they should be able to provide you with information about the subcontractors as well so you can vet them as well.