Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Flooring Contractor

Hey folks! This is Tim from A Team Hardwoods LLC.

Welcome to another Q&A session where I answer questions from you all on the internet.

Today's question is:

"Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Flooring Contractor"

Summary:

When advising homeowners on vetting a flooring contractor, Tim's first and most important question is whether the contractor is licensed, bonded, and insured. He is emphatic that if he gets a no to that first question, he is definitely not hiring them. After establishing that baseline, his next area of interest is how much experience the contractor and their staff have. Those two concerns, licensing and experience, represent his biggest priorities when evaluating who to hire. Tim acknowledges that everybody starts out somewhere and he doesn't begrudge newcomers to the trade, but he wouldn't want someone just starting out performing his own job. His answer is straightforward and to the point, reflecting a practical, no-nonsense framework: verify the legal and insurance credentials first as a hard requirement, then weigh the depth of hands-on experience before entrusting a contractor with the work.

Answer:

My first question would probably be: are you licensed, bonded, and insured? And then after that, I would be interested in how much experience he or she and their staff actually has. Those would be my two biggest concerns right there. If I get a no to that first question, I'm definitely not hiring them, that's a hard line for me, no exceptions. And if they're just starting out, well, I mean, everybody starts out somewhere, but I wouldn't want them learning on my job. So those are really the things I'd want answered before hiring anyone: are they licensed, bonded, and insured, and how much real hands-on experience do they and their crew actually have. A no on that licensing question is an automatic red flag for me, and somebody who's just barely starting out in the trade would give me pause too. Those would be my biggest concerns. That's just my answer, straight to the point.