Do some background work on you contractor!

Not to say I am the best contractor out there, but to those who say there are able to do work well below cost, you are only injuring the entire industry. You may ask how can this be. But lets lay out the facts. If the below cost contractor is selected, they will use cheaper quality materials therefore giving a poor result in there quality. Home owners may not realize the problem until after they have paid the contractor and he has disappeared. After paying this contracting they may not have the money to do repairs necessary to fix contractors work.

For example, you hire "Brian" from an online ad to finish your basement. He has said it will take approximately 1-2 weeks and will cost roughly $19 a square foot. When going over your request he constantly changes items you want to fit less expensive and easier to install. He offers to do all electrical and plumbing required(very rare if Brian has his electrical and plumbing license). Also, rare if he takes out necessary permits for the work involved. When project is complete you are lwondering if this is what you wanted and if you got what you paid for. Changes are now costly because of finished walls and ceiling and hidden electrical and plumbing.

In reality, a finished basement should start roughly around $35 square foot, that would include framing, minor electrical, and some flooring. For complex and fully finished basements the price can quickly climb for things like bathrooms, bedrooms, custom lighting and insulated flooring.

Great work results in Great referrals and references, another great reference will come from home improvement stores and good contractor will usually deal with sales people at these stores directly, others will have no relationship with anyone, ask for one sales rep reference as well.

I hope this helps future projects for many people out there, I would love to be able to help everyone with there dream projects, but to everyone there is a great contractor out there who fits the situation. Please let me know if there are any projects that you are looking at completing in the near future.