How to Select a Siding Contractor for Your House
Selecting a Siding Contractor: One of the best ways of selecting a contractor is to use word of mouth references. Seek out friends, relatives, co-workers, and people in your neighborhood who have recently had their house resided. In anticipation of talking with them. Ask them how many bids they got on the job as a starter as well as how they selected the contractor they ended up using. Find out whether the contractor started the siding job when they said they would and, most importantly, once they started did they continue to work daily on it until finished. Depending on your level of comfort it is fair to ask them rough prices and whether they had insurance which should be a must. Find out whether there were any surprises or unexpected costs and whether the contractor tried to sell them additional options such as windows and gutters, vents, roofing, insulation or charges for reinstalling light fixtures etc.
Interviewing Contractors to Get a Bid: When you select the contractors you want to get bids from have a typed out list of questions prepared from your previous discussions (above). Determine if you want a quote strictly on new siding or if you want windows, guttering or any other items included in the bid. Start out by finding exactly what is included in the bid. For example if you want shutters does their bid include the cost of the shutters as well as the installation charge. If you have to have your outside faucets extended to accommodate the increased thickness are you or they responsible for having that done?
Ask specific detailed questions on their insurance coverage and whether they use their own employees on their crews or do they use temporary workers who may not have the experience or take as much pride in their work as someone who works for the company. Find out whether they recommend putting the siding over your existing siding or will they take your siding off and replace it with plywood. Determine what brand, styles and thickness of siding material they will use and what guarantees they give and materials and workmanship. Be wary if they propose removing your present siding totally and applying the siding directly to the wall studs since this may not have the structural stability you desire. By using a predetermined set of questions it will be easier to compare one contractor to another once their quotes are submitted.
Upgrading Options: Many siding contractors are also in the business of selling and installing vinyl replacement windows and gutters. While there is nothing wrong with this it pays to be prepared with questions if you think you may want to explore one of these options. In most cases replacing siding will require removing existing gutters to replace the fascia board thus plan ahead on how you’re going to deal with that since it usually isn’t practical to reuse the gutters and downspouts once removed. Sometimes contractors will consider covering the fascia board, soffitts, eaves vents, etc. as extras so be sure to determine what exactly is covered in the original baseline quote. Obviously ask for their very best price on the job once you have decided what you want done. In some cases you may want to ask if there is anything you can do to lower the price such as buying your own shutters at a big box store and installing yourself, typically a fairly easy job.
Signing the Contract: At this stage you will want to select your top two candidates based on not only the price but their reputation and how others felt they did. You should also check with the local Better Business Bureau to see the contractor’s track record and ask them for a list of references. Do whatever checking you want and if talking with the other references raises some good and bad points take these into account when you talk with the contractor. Meet with each contractor and clear up any questions you have. If the contractors have similar prices it is possible you would tell one with the slightly higher price that you really want to work with them and will employ them if they are willing to meet or beat the competing contractors price. It is also fair to say you will be a reference, assuming you are pleased, if they will make some monetary adjustment. If you decide you want gutters, and windows ask about a package discount pointing out that they will save money since they don’t have to bring in equipment for the extra jobs or make additional deliveries etc. Have them spell out the starting date and a reasonable ending date with the exclusion of weather related delays.
Monitoring the Job: Once they start the job watch their attention to detail especially in the early days. If you arranged for flashing at the roof/wall interface make sure they install that. See that they clean up at the end of each workday. Note that the material brand, quality and thickness is being used is what they agreed to. Note the same on the foam board typically used underneath. Talk to the owner if the site supervisor seems unresponsive. Don’t delay since once started they often move rapidly and delaying would make it that much harder to correct a problem. At the end of the job have a walk through with the site supervisor. If you have monitored the work there should be no surprises.
By doing your homework during the contractor selection process and following a procedure similar to discussed here, you will greatly increase your chances of selecting a reputable contractor who will do a quality siding job that you will be happy with.
