Finding Contractors

[Kent Harris]

I have been using the same contractor for the past 6 months. He does really good and has good prices on his work but is late getting in the Bids, paperwork and completing the jobs late. This has cost me money with the lender and getting the houses leased. Over the Christmas Holidays it took 2 weeks to get a stove and lost a prospective Tenant in the process. I just now got a contract signed and the new tenant is moving in on the 1st of March! I had to pay an additional $500 for Vacancy insurance plus lost $5,000 in revenue, because an oven did not get delivered on time. Last week it took 3 days to get lean wavers and the title company refused to close on 3 properties since the paperwork was turned in Friday morning the day of closing. We have had several discussions with the contractor and nothing has improved.  

I was told just to hire tradesmen to do the work I needed. I hired an Electrician that way and he pretty much took my money and almost burned my rental down by shorting out the wiring (Can't get my current contractor to submit paperwork so I can report the electrician!) Not sure what to do at this point. I tried going through Angie's list and Home Advisors and all the contractors there are way overpriced. Not sure what to do at this point.