How to find a GOOD contractor

[John G.]

Good Day BP,

I have listened to all of the Bp podcasts and it seems like finding a contractor and finding a good property manager was two of the most troubled topics spoke of. So a carpenter I just wanted to give a couple ideas that I thought might spark some new ideas on finding good contractors.

Josh and Brandon like the idea of going to home depot or lowes in the early morning and talking with those guys. That is one approach that could have positive results, however it's a numbers game.

I humbly say that in my current career as a carpenter I am working with one of the best residential construction contractors in northern California. The company I work for does homes for very, very wealthy people that stand over us to make sure we are within a 64th of an inch in measure or better and we perform well, though not all customers are like that, that was an idea of the types of customers we work with and enjoy it at that. We plan, clean, build, complete, clean and clean again. It's a very interesting niche coming from the 49er stadium when it was build, build, and build as fast as you can and then open the doors. Saying this I wanted to give some perspectives of what I thought a good way to find a contractor would be.

I am speaking from a high end residential perspective to maybe this won't apply to small towns or rural areas. 

1. Don't always rely on home depot and lowes to a good contractor these are not considered a worthy place to buy materials.

2. Instead of HD or Lowes try a lumber yard this is where the good contractors shop or get materials shipped from 

3. Go the places a good contractor shops and ask the business department, which contractor do they do the most business with this could be

- Lumber yards

- Truss manufacturers

- specialty shops

- Reclaimed wood and material stores

4. Look at homes you want your house to look like and walk up to the owners and ask who they used. 

5. Go to homes being worked and ask the guys working on the home if they have any projects coming up and if they are interested in yours

6. If the guys don't want to give you the time of day cause they're working ask if you buy them lunch or even just bring them a case of water if they give you a couple minutes on their lunch (this works in many ways because if the bottom line is motivated to work on your house their keep in the owner's ear with your name or even do your project on the side)

7. The best contractors are working not spending time in the store waiting in lines, they get everything they need delivered.

When all is said it, done it comes down to 3 things 

Build it quickly with high quality, then it's not going to be cheap. 

Build it quick and cheap, and it will not be high quality. 

Build it with top notch quality and cheap, it's going to take more time.

I've seen all 3 types of work and it seems some might want to say the contractors are bad, but maybe it's because people are ballbusting on prices and these companies really want to help but at the end of the day the check the books and they're not making money cause they didn't have the confidence to say no. I don't know, I've never been in this situation what I do know is the one you have an issue with a contractor don't find a contractor the same way you did the first time. There's all kinds of associations that contractors are a part of just like REIA theirs

Southern California Contractors Association

Associated General Contractors of California

Roofing Contractors Association of California

Also, if you want quality first check out the local Carpenters Union Hall and ask them what is the best residential contractor you have on contracts. 

That's all I have for today, I am still very new to all of this so understand this is from a carpenter's point a view not so much a full time investors view. 

Its my Goal to get more involved to create opportunities in communication with BP and Investors in general. I hope something in this article gives someone an outside of the box ideas for finding investors.

[Nicole Pettis]

@John G.

All good points and great ideas, I know people are always trying to figure out ways to build their network of good contractors.

From an investors point of view, you have to understand that many us are working on the first time home buyer market where it doesn't make sense to put in the high end materials and while we would all love to hire those top notch companies that are professional and show up and get the job done, most of the time those guys aren't in our budget.

So we go with the small business guys, who have the experience and work with our budget. Some have it together and many do not. Its just the nature of the beast. The main problem with many contractors is reliability and follow through. I just had to let my GC go. Not because he wasn't doing quality work, but because he became inconsistent. This past week him and his crew showed up for a total of 1.5 days, when our deadline is 3 weeks away. How are you suppose to get work done that way? In the beginning he was a rockstar. Follow through was great, he was on top of things. But 6 weeks into the job, he started coming less and less, excuses started, professionalism lacked, no follow through. So I let him go. I didn't want to, but he didn't give me a choice. 

My opinion is if a contractor comes in with fair pricing we as investors aren't going to be "ball busting" and if they do the job great and are professional we will keep giving them work and maybe we aren't paying them top of the line, but they are getting consistent, reliable work.

Thank you again for the post. Great conversation!