By John Ward
Applewood Plumbing, Heating & Electric
www.applewoodfixit.com

With spring arriving this month, a lot of homeowners are beginning to think about repair or improvement projects.

And that leads to a daunting dilemma for some: How do you pick a contractor who'll do a good job without ripping you off?

March is also National Ethics Awareness Month. We use it as a time to remind ourselves and our employees of the importance of doing the work we
perform for our customers with integrity. We follow a Code of Ethics that serves as our commitment to ourselves, our employees and our customers to provide good value on every project.

How do you pick the right contractor for your work? Here are eight tips that may help:

1. Experience matters. Pick a contractor with enough experience to do your job right. When we're called in to fix problems caused by other contractors, the most common cause of the problem is that the person who did the original work didn't have the experience or skill to do the job right the first time.

2. Get a firm price. With a few exceptions, contractors should be able to give you a firm price in writing before work begins. The exceptions are jobs where it's impossible to know up front how much work and materials will be required - some emergency plumbing repairs, for example. Make sure the price quote specifies what's included.

3. Get a firm schedule. There's nothing more frustrating than work that doesn't get done on schedule. Ask your contractor for a firm schedule and insist on being able to cancel a contract if work doesn't start on time. Consider price incentives for work being completed on time for major projects that take a long time to complete.

4. Get multiple bids on large projects. Always a good idea. Pay attention to how the people preparing the bids approach your project. The degree of professionalism a contractor shows when bidding your project is a good indicator of the professionalism they'll bring to your work.

5. Consider price and value. Price is always worth considering. But choose the contractor who will give you the best value for your money. Value includes the quality as well as price. If you receive widely varying bids for a project, try to figure out why. The bids may include different quality material or levels of work. Cheapest isn't always the cheapest or best.

6. Inspections are important. Be wary of contractors who try to get you to skip permits and inspections by promising to do the work for less money if you do. Permits are there to protect you. The inspector's job is to make sure the work done on your home meets local safety and quality codes. Skip this step and the few dollars you save today may cost you big bucks down the road.

7. Get a guarantee. Get a guarantee in writing and understand exactly what it covers - or doesn't cover.

8. Check references. Ask for references from other homeowners who've had similar work done. And check them out with the Better Business Bureau, too.

John Ward has owned and operatedApplewood Plumbing, Heating & Electric for more than 34 years. He is a master plumber and recognized as an industry leader for his knowledge and ethical business practices.