You surely don’t want to make the grave mistake of ending up with an inappropriate or undesired exterior home renovation company. An inappropriate company may have an inexperienced, and unlicensed workforce who may fail to do their job correctly. And you may always have issues and conflicts with the contractor if the company doesn’t understand your expectations. Therefore, look for the following things when opting for a company for your exterior home renovations.

Location

If you are opting for a renovation company through your friend’s reference then surely the company operates locally. But if you are looking for a company online, it becomes essential to check if they provide services in your area. It often happens that companies mention that they cater to a large area, say entire Alberta. But actually, they only carry out exterior home renovations in some select places. Try to get in touch with the company directly and pick a company that has a branch or office in your city.

Years of Experience

The years of experience highly matter when you want to understand how good a company is at its work. Therefore, find out for how many years the company has been in the market. Do an internet search using whatever information you have (name, address, phone number). Or put the word out on social media and look for online reviews. If the business has a presence there, someone will likely be talking about it. Once you know that the company has been there for a while, find out the years of experience a particular contractor has. Look for the years of experience of the person you’d wish to work with. You can look at their resume or license to find this information. Once you’ve verified the years of experience of the company as well as a particular contractor to your satisfaction, it is wise to proceed with the one that has been in the business for a long time now.

Knowledge of Latest Trends

What’s the use of hiring a company or contractor for exterior home renovations if they aren’t updated with the latest trends? The person or company that you’d work with in the future should know about the changing trends of home exteriors such as the popular paint colors of the season, most efficient siding materials, and best type landscaping ideas. The best way to test someone’s knowledge of the latest trends is by giving them an assignment. Explain the kind of home exterior improvement you are looking for and give them a gist of elements you would like to have in your property. Ask them to come up with ideas. If the company or a contractor provides ideas that were popular a decade ago, move on to the next company or contractor.

Past Work

Looking at the track record and the kind of clients the company has worked with will give you a clear picture of how well they’ll be able to execute your exterior home renovation plan. Ask the company to share its portfolio. Do you like the styles of the homes in the portfolio? Does the exterior work design look like something you would want for your home? Does the company stick with certain types of homes or is there diversity? Based on these factors, you can decide if you wish to hire this company.

Customer Service

Do you want to wait for hours before getting in touch with a contractor? Do you want to try different means of communication just to get answers for a renovation-related query or to fix a home inspection? No, right? Nobody wants that.

The right person for the job will be easy to talk to. Hence, you should test a company’s availability and the quality of customer service they provide even before selecting a company. Call on the numbers provided on a company’s website or their Google listing. See how quickly they respond. Likewise, if there’s a chatbot on their website, test it and see how prompt they are with their services and also how helpful they are. If they are available all the time, you can proceed with them. Or else you already know that poor communication is a deal-breaker.

License

Firstly, see whether the companies you have shortlisted are licensed or not. You can’t trust an unlicensed company as they may not have the right expertise and may even shut down at any point leaving you and your exterior home renovations midway. Once you know that the company has a valid license, move to its workforce. All of the contractors working for a company should have required licenses. Find out whether the person holds all the licenses needed from state and local municipalities, along with designations from any professional associations such as the Canadian Renovators’ Council. Only work with those who provide credentials before starting the project.

Pricing Structure

You need to keep your budget in mind as well. The company you shortlist should have a reasonable pricing structure for every task you are looking for. Explain your exterior home renovations roughly and ask for an estimated bill to see if you can afford the company’s services. Before finalizing a company, understand which costs are included in the estimate provided. Does this estimate include materials and labor costs? Or is it just for the services the company will provide. Based on these, you can decide whether you’d want to proceed with that company. If you find a company that meets all your requirements but is too expensive, look for another option.

If you are only relying on online reviews about the home renovation companies in your area, then you are going in the wrong direction. Hire a home renovation company that seems to be satisfactory based on all these factors too. Spend enough time on researching and comparing your options before finalizing the right team for your exterior home renovations to avoid any issues later.