People often get unlicensed contractors to renovate their homes, or even do it themselves. While you can save some money going these routes, you introduce risk, and you will almost certainly be forced to accept a significant and noticeable reduction in finishing quality (unless you’re a professional yourself). You may also face safety hazards, possibly resulting in catastrophic damage to your home, which may not be covered by insurance. With a slightly higher cost, you can guarantee the quality of work to your satisfaction, the job will be done on time, and your home will always adhere to top safety standards.
Here are seven great reasons to use a licensed vs unlicensed contractor:
- Licensed contractors are insured. If something should go wrong, a licensed contractor is backed by insurance, making an unfortunate situation as painless as possible. If an independent and unlicensed contractor has an accident in your home without insurance, YOU may be on the hook for their injury! Also, to be licensed you must not have a criminal record.
- Qualified and trained contractors understand the legal processes and have passed all exams and training courses. Unlicensed contractors may have on-the-job training, at most. You could have someone renovating your home who has never hammered a nail before.
- A licensed contractor will be knowledgeable of all local and federal government requirements and make sure that they are met. They will follow every rule by the book to ensure the job passes inspection at the highest standards. Many unlicensed contractors may not even know what those standards are, and operate with ‘working experience’ only.
- A licensed contractor will use approved methodologies to finish a project. Proper internal communication is used and project planning is communicated to the client throughout the process. A safety net that you can’t get with unlicensed contractors, the homeowner and a licensed contractor would also sign a legal and enforceable contract.
- Properly licensed contractors will never leave a project unfinished. They will ensure your satisfaction is met before the project is considered ‘finished’, and will never abandon a project for any reason. If an unlicensed contractor encounters complications with the project, such as with funding, resources, or just poor time management, they could simply abandon the project. You would have to find them and then sue them to get your money back, at which point you’re back at square one.
- You will always get an accurate quote from a licensed contractor. With a random unlicensed contractor you found on internet classifieds, they may give you one quote, and as the job is half done, hold you hostage for 2-3x the original quote (or more!). A licensed contractor will give you a quote that will accurately reflect the time, cost and scope, within industry standards.
- This part is covered in the previous section, but it’s so important it gets its own section. Your project will be done ON TIME. We often hear horror stories of renovations and construction projects that go way over their allotted time. There’s usually very little the clients could do about it. With a licensed contractor, you can reasonably count on the project to finish when they say it will. You’ll also get regular schedule and milestone updates! With unlicensed contractors, they may not even know how long it will take, as they could have 4 other projects on the go in an attempt to maximize their income at your expense. You will also often get more vague/inaccurate updates, if you get any at all. Operating with a licensed contractor means operating with a PROFESSIONAL in every sense of the word.
Using licensed contractors is the smart way to go when undertaking a renovation or construction project. You will get a safe, complete job to your satisfaction (while following all rules and regulations), with minimal risk and maximum peace of mind to you.
Sam D.
Apex Construction