Evaluating the Past Work of a Home Construction Company

If you are planning to have home construction done, it's essential that you choose a good contractor. There is no shortage of good ones out there, but there is also a fair amount of hacks. Simply judging on price is not a reliable way to tell them apart. Some fantastic contractors will do work for a very reasonable price. Some terrible ones will charge you through the nose. Reliable methods of selecting a contractor include evaluating some of their past work. If you have a chance to look at it, here are the things you should be looking for.

Watch for the windows. Same goes for the doors. This is where sloppy work becomes very apparent, because these aspects of home construction take some skill and patience to do right. If you're invited to look at some past work, go straight for the windows. Open them and shut them. Note if anything is off. Do they stick or jam? How much noise do they make. Check the doors. Make sure they match up evenly with the jambs and close nicely. Watch for excess space at the bottom and the top.

Another important and easy method to identify the quality of the home construction is to inspect the foundation. If the work is very old, this isn't as reliable a method as some, but you shouldn't be inspecting very old work in any case. Look for cracks, of course. Very small cracks can be dismissed, as long as they aren't too prevalent. It is the major cracks you want to watch for. This can be a sign of poor materials and sloppy workmanship.

Look at the drywall very carefully. It is a good idea to try and inspect work that hasn't been covered up with wallpaper. This is where you can see what the home construction company is made of. Drywall should be smooth and seamless. There shouldn't be any noticeable bumps in the wall. You should never be able to tell where one sheet of drywall stops and another one starts. When you can see these imperfections, it is an obvious sign of carelessness on the part of the contractor.

Many potential homeowners fail to ask to see a home construction company's previous work. They feel it might be a sign of impropriety or rudeness. Nothing could be further from the truth. A good contractor should be more than willing to show off their work. Any company that isn't should be regarded with a suspicious eye. Don't accept anything less. Building a new home is a major job and it is not cheap. Spend your money on a crew that will make you proud.