Don't Fall In Love With Your First Contractor

If I was to guess, I would imagine that more than 75% of everyone that I work for, never even gets another bid or estimate. Since I am not the kind of person who wants to take advantage of my customers, I don't really find anything wrong with this. I don't think that any contractor would find anything wrong with someone hiring them without getting other bids.

Here's the problem though, a contractor comes to your home and has a pretty good personality. You and your wife get along with him and he gives you a bid that seems to be pretty reasonable. Why shouldn't you go with this person, after all they gave you a reasonable price and you get along with them?

That's fine and like I said I would imagine that more than 75% of people looking for contractors do the same thing. We already have one estimate from a contractor that we like. Now it's time to get two other bids to see if we like them or if we like their prices even better than that.

The second contractor comes over to your house and you don't really get along with him, but his price is 10% lower than the first contractor. The second contractor definitely knows what he's doing and you feel comfortable that he is qualified to do the work, but he's just not your cup of tea.

The third contractor comes over to your house and gives you an estimate that's 10% higher than the first one, but point out additional things that need to be done. You would have never known about these things, unless you contacted another contractor.

The things that need to be done make a lot of sense and now you're wondering why the first contractor didn't point them out to you. You can get upset at the first contractor, or choose to hire the third contractor. The choice is up to you, but let's take a look at the overall outcome of the situation.

By getting two other contractors to look at your project, you learned a little bit more about your project and now have more options. You can explain the additional work that needs to be done to the first contractor and get a revised estimates or higher the third contractor.

You wouldn't have had any other choices, if you hired the first contractor. Limited choices can often lead to bad feelings, especially if you think that a contractor is taking advantage of you. If you have three other estimates, you now have a pretty good idea what other contractors charge.