Siding -- Hiring the Right Team for the Job

The exterior of your house should stand for something. Not only should it act as the first layer of protection against the elements, but it should maximize the value of your home, as well as beautify it. While only one aspect of that, siding is nevertheless one of the most important elements of a nice exterior. If you're looking into repairing your existing work or putting new material up, you're going to need a contractor that knows what they're doing. Beyond that, you want one who will be fair and reasonable with their pricing. Here are some tips you can use to hire the right team for the job.

Dependability is one of the primary traits you should look for in a siding contractor. Unfortunately, the phone book doesn't divide contractors into "dependable" and "unreliable" sub-categories, so you're going to have to do some legwork. This includes looking for referrals, online reviews, and checking out the websites of the manufacturers themselves. That's right. Many manufacturers will have local listings of contractors licensed to sell and install their products. This can be a great way to find someone worthy of such a distinction.

Referrals are important for a couple of reasons. One, a company that has a slew of referrals and references has probably been in business for a substantial amount of time. This is a good thing. While longevity isn't the end-all, be-all, it can be an important indicator. Are there contractors out there who have made a long and consistent living ripping off customers left and right? Perhaps, but they are probably few and far between. The second reason references are nice is that it will sometimes give you an opportunity to see some work for yourself. You can look over the siding installation and see if you like the quality of the craftsmanship. This would be better than finding out after the fact that you don't like the look of their work.

Online reviews are a relatively new resource for those looking to hire a siding contractor, but it is nonetheless an important one. It only takes a few minutes to throw some names into a search engine and see what comes back. If you start seeing the same complaints come up time and time again, treat it as a red flag. If you see some praise and some criticism, read through the reviews carefully and make up your own mind. No review -- particularly an anonymous one -- can be trusted completely, but it will give you more information than you had to begin with.