A recent article in Money magazine gives tips on how to “haggle” with a contractor.  Some of the advice is good & I’ve linked to the article here.

Everyone always says, “Get 3 bids”.  In my experience this process often leads to disaster.  In the business I’ve been in with my wife–faux finishing–we would usually get beat out on price by other companies.  If we were the lowest price out of 3 bids we figured we’d made a mistake in our evaluation of the job.  When we had jobs backed up 6 weeks or more Brenda began asking prospects if they were getting other bids.  If they said “yes” she would give a price over the phone and not waste her time giving a design consultation in person.

We still get calls from people who took a lower bid and regretted it.  One company took over the client’s dining room to paint the doors and drawers of the kitchen cabinets.  The dust from the sanding went through the entire house.  Often we will get called in to fix those low bid jobs after the client fires the contractor.

If you do decide to have contractors bid on a project make sure the scope of work and kind of materials to be used is clearly defined.  The more complex the work to be done the more detailed the proposal should be.  If one contractor is bidding ceramic tile and another is bidding travertine stone, there will be a significant price difference.

And in all cases of hiring a contractor, ask for references.  And take the next step to call the references and talk to them about how the contractor was to work with and if they are pleased with the workmanship and the process of getting the work done.  Did he keep the site clean?  Did he finish in a reasonable time frame?  Did he show up when he said he would?  The intangibles are important if you’re going to have someone working in your home.

My preference when hiring anyone to provide a service is to ask someone I trust to give me a referral.  I may get a couple of names and then I talk to each and make my decision based on their references and how confident I am of getting the best value.  I’m much more concerned to get a job done correctly and the least amount of hassle than I am of getting the lowest price.  I’ve heard it said that the joy of a low price last only a brief time.  The bitterness of a poor quality job lasts for years.