Smart Tips & Tricks for Hiring Contractors

Check them out

Read reviews and check star ratings out of 5 on 23HourBids.com to ensure you are hiring a quality, reputable contractor. Also ask for their license number and check it with the Contractors State License Board for information on their insurance, their bonding, their personnel and their worker’s compensation. We check all of this for you when the contractor signs up but we’d like to urge you to double check in case we missed something or their circumstances have changed since they joined us.

Plastic or Paper Trail

While a contractor may ask, or offer you a slightly better deal, paying with cash is not always a good idea. In the event of a dispute how are you going to prove you paid? We would always advise you to pay with a good old paper check or with your plastic friend – either credit or debit. This way you have created a trail and a hard copy record that can’t be disputed.
Never pay large amounts upfront and if the contractor asks you to buy materials out the gate, have them delivered to your house not theirs. And get receipts for everything. The more records you have on paper the better - just in case.
Remember also – should you have a dispute with a contractor you hired from 23HourBids.com please let us know – we make it a point to personally speak with all of our contractors – we might just be able to step in on your behalf and mediate. Guess what? That’s free to!

Planning and Permitting

Call your local planning office and ask if your home improvement needs a permit. If it does, talk to your contractor and request a copy. DIscuss the permitting phase with him/her and be confident they are knowledgeable in this particular area.

Multiple Bids

Never hire a contractor solely on price. 23HourBids.com will send your home improvement project to multiple contractors – be sure to spend a little time comparing not just price but the materials used, the time frame they are proposing, the number of workers who’ll be in your home, their real star rating and read reviews from their existing customers. And with your very own dashboard it’s so easy. Look into their gallery of photos and videos and see for yourself the quality of their work as well as their experience in your chosen category.

Record everything

Buy a day planner or keep a diary. Get everything in writing and don’t be afraid to go into minute detail on paper. This will help the contractor too and I promise everyone will be much happier working from a script.
List the materials, brands, guarantees, not just colors but actual shades. What you dont want is a decorator painting your house navy blue when you wanted sky blue and the contract just says blue – that’s a disaster that happens everyday and can be so easily avoided.

Also get time frames on paper -

stage 1 (details) starting on 10th March – finished by 24th March

stage 2 (details) starting on march 26th and completion by March 30th.

Lastly add time frames for payments, check or plastic – not cash!

“At 23HourBids.com we’ll do what you need us to do to make your experience here and your home improvement a resounding success - all we ask is that you tell your friends and family about is - thank you.”