Selecting a Contractor: Three essential tips

Are you looking to expand your living space and create a beautiful remodel? Do you need help building that pool house or outhouse to create the man cave you always dreamed of? Maybe you even need a new roof, simply because your old roof is leaking. 

Regardless of the project, selecting a general contractor can be intimidating. When investing high amounts of your hard earned money into a project, you want to be sure that you’re getting every penny worth of value. Selection is a very ambiguous part of the remodel process that has many hidden variables to look out for. 

If you have the right idea, you’re probably googling terms and not quite sure what to look for. Before you spend another hour googling 'Painting contractors near me’, ‘Carpentry services near me’ or ‘General contractors near me’, allow us to give you a few tips and things to watch out for:

1. Lack of Proper Licensing or Insurance

When you are receiving a home improvement or repair quote of any kind, always ask the company if they are fully licensed and insured. When asking, verify the company has both workers compensation and general liability insurance. If not, you may be held liable for damage to your furniture, property, home, or building, and even medical expenses for injuries incurred by the workers on the day of the job.

More specifically, be very careful when verifying the level of dollar value insurance coverage your contractor offers for your project as well. In the D.C. area, it isn’t uncommon for homes to be priced north of $1,000,000.00, especially in areas like Northwest D.C., Potomac, Chevy Chase, and Bethesda. Always ensure your contractor has liability insurance for multi-millions of dollars. The odds are that if your contractor were to accidentally damage your property or your neighbors property, they would not have the cash on hand to remediate the damage.

It is important to ask for a copy of insurance (also known as a COI), as contractors will commonly use sketchy tactics to appear fully insured even in instances when they are not, leaving you out of thousands of your hard earned dollars if something goes wrong.

Optima Designs, Inc is proudly fully licensed and insured. We offer full value insurance on every project we undertake. This means that we will repair any damaged property and never penalize you if an employee is injured on the job.

2. Hidden Fees

When receiving an estimate, always make sure the price is guaranteed. Contractors in general have a poor reputation for sneaking in fees when minor inconveniences occur or just about anything that does not go their way. This is commonly due to poor logistical planning, poor knowledge of their trade, and a lack of care in the estimation process from the company.

Optima Designs, Inc is composed of industry experts and always gives a solid, guaranteed price. We ensure a seamless process from start to finish by giving you direct contact with our founder and owner. From the day you reach out to our team up until the second you pay us, you will deal directly with our founder and owner, Gordon. 

As long as the work on the day of the job is consistent with the scope of work in our estimate and contract, we do the job as guaranteed with zero hidden fees!

3. Inexperienced Workers and Tradesmen

Many companies are not properly established in the industry. It’s no secret that the Maryland, Washington D.C., and Virginia area (also known as the DMV) is very strong economically. As a result, many inexperienced contractors will enter the industry and try their hand at starting a business. 

Unfortunately, many of these contractors lack the experience to properly complete the job. From the planning and preparation process up until the very end, we follow a very specific process to ensure only the highest quality work. Your project is more than a paycheck to us, it’s our pride and craft. We love remodeling!

Whether we’re working on a new kitchen, painting the exterior or interior of your home, or doing a basic carpentry job - you can bet that our team has the expertise and drive to get the job done better than anybody in the area. 

Every operator on our team is a highly experienced employee, personally trained and supervised by our company owner Gordon, an industry expert for over 50+ years. We always background check, thoroughly train, and supervise our crew, making for the best service in the D.C. Metropolitan area.

Getting ready to transform your home? We do it all.

Our crew offers full service painting and home remodeling all throughout the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia area.

Contact us for a free estimate. 

Call or Text: (301) 529-6198

Office (Call): (301) 984-2322

optimadesigns@verizon.net

www.optima-designs-inc.com