If you’ve decided to hire a contractor to handle your custom cabinets, there’s work to do. Planning your job ahead of time, measuring carefully, and evaluating several contractors before you accept a bid can mean the difference between satisfaction and pride–or recurring headaches with a haphazard cabinet job. There are plenty of people looking to do the work, so now it’s up to you to find the right one.
Home-improvement maven Bob Villa has a fine starting list of red flags to look for in evaluating custom cabinet contractors. Be especially wary of door-to-door solicitors, contractors who only take cash for work, or who pressure you to get started immediately with a hefty down payment. Many states or county building departments can require permits for kitchen remodeling jobs, and if your prospective contractor wants you to get the permit yourself, that can be an indicator that you’re dealing with a less-than-reputable company.
Evaluating Your Cabinet-Maker Prospects
The Council of Better Business Bureaus recommends that you measure your job before you measure your prospective kitchen cabinet contractors . You’ll need a baseline for comparing labor and materials costs. As you evaluate bids for customer cabinets, be sure to ask for a list of references.
Bob Villa suggests that you get a list of references who have had similar work done by your prospective contractor, people who won’t mind if you visit to look at the work and who will answer questions whether it was done on time, inside the budget, and completed to satisfaction.
Writers at Face Your Kitchen suggest that you insist that the cabinet contractor carries full insurance (licensing and bonding) in case of damage to your home or on-the-job injuries.
