Should You Hire Friends to Perform Home Repairs?
Home repairs that are ignored will eventually cost you. They will blight a home. If you then decide to move and sell or rent out your home, you will need to take care of any outstanding home repairs in order to improve your chances of attracting the right buyers or tenants. But should you hire friends to perform home repairs?
Are Your Friends Properly Licensed?
It is all very well turning to friends to take care of home repairs for you because you know and trust them. However, are they qualified and properly licensed to actually perform the repairs? If something goes wrong, not only will you be ultimately addled with the responsibility of the extra repairs, but your friendship could suffer or even founder.
Find out ahead of time if your friends are qualified to repair your home. Do not be shy about asking if they are licensed, how many years experience (if any) they have in the construction trade and so forth. Asking the right questions can save you money and ensure you have hired the right person to do the job.
How Well Do You Trust Them?
Do you trust your friends? How well? It is important to have a solid, trusting relationship with any friends you hire to repair your home. Do not turn to friends for “favors” when it comes to home maintenance or repairs. Have a contract in place and make sure they know exactly what is required of them during the transaction. This is business, so treat it as such!
Professional Service
Friends who are in the construction trade should already be highly skilled professionals, used to working with the public and delivering a top-notch service. They should treat you with the same high level of professionalism as they would a member of the general public. That means friends should show up when you have made arrangements for them to do so and work diligently until they have fulfilled their contractual obligations towards you.
Some friends who are hired to take care of business expect special treatment and will turn up late, clock off early or make flimsy excuses for not taking care of repairs in a timely manner. If your friends have a reputation for slacking off, hire someone else to do the work.
When it comes to hiring friends to perform home maintenance or repairs, consider all your options. While hiring friends may seem like the obvious solution, this arrangement does not always work out for the best, especially if the lines get blurred along the way.
