A great way to increase the value of your property and make your home more functional and stylish, masonry home improvements such as stone patios, walkways, veneer facades and outdoor fireplaces, can be extremely effective when the work is carried out by a skilled professional, such as a masonry contractor.
If you’re planning some masonry home improvements, here are 5 important questions to ask a masonry contractor before hiring them:
- Are you state certified?
If a masonry contractor is certified, that accreditation will tell you that they are skilled at their trade, and take their profession seriously. Many times, contractors claiming to be qualified to undertake complex masonry work, simply aren’t, and homeowners risk a shoddy job that will cost them a lot of money to have repaired or altered.
Hiring a certified masonry contractor gives you peace of mind, and you should never be afraid to ask for proof of their accreditation.
2. Do you have the appropriate insurance?
If a masonry contractor is required by the state to be certified, then they’ll almost certainly be required to have insurance, too. Should an accident or injury take place while work is being carried out in your property, the last thing you want is for the injured person to file a claim against your homeowners’ or business insurance. Even worse, you could face a civil lawsuit because you worked with an uninsured masonry contractor.
3. Are you registered with the BBB?
While there are many forums for customers to complain about poor masonry workmanship, the Better Business Bureau takes complaints more seriously and follows up with business owners about the circumstances. While it isn’t make or break as to whether your chosen masonry contractor is registered with the BBB, being affiliated with them is no bad thing.
4. Do you have any recent references you can share with me?
Unless you are literally the masonry contractors first customer (which is highly unlikely, although of course, every mason has to start somewhere), they should have a number of references to show you from previous customers, and ideally, satisfied ones. Any reticence to share references with you should be viewed as suspicious, and warrants further research on your part.
5. What will you charge me for the work and what is the payment schedule?
Most masonry contractors will ask that you make a partial payment in advance for any work they have been asked to carry out, and then they will give you a schedule of instalments for the remaining payment. However, if the contractor is demanding more than half of the full payment be given to them in advance, this could be a warning sign, and it’s important to remember that most agreements signed are based upon an estimate, so you should also ask about limits on potential cost overruns when hiring a stone masonry contractor.
Most masonry contractors are reputable and take pride in their work, but by asking the 5 questions above before hiring one, you can be sure to separate the wheat from the chaff.