Whether you’re hiring a plumber, an electrician, an interior designer, a pest control company, or an architect for your home, you need to remember one thing: Ask to see the contract first. The contract is a legally binding document that aims to protect your rights, as well as the rights of the contractors who are going to do work in your home.
Licenses
If you need roof tear-off services in Orem or any other city, you will need to see whether the contractor is licensed to do that work. Remember that in some states, a license or permit is not a general thing. Rather, it’s specific to the kind of work that the contractor can do in your home. Those who comply with the requirements set forth by your state are mostly the so-called experts in the services that they are offering.
Contact Information
Too many times, you would shrug off this part of the contract, thinking it’s understood that the agreement was between you (the client) and the contractor. But it doesn’t work that way in the legal world. A contract will need to have both your full names, complete addresses, and even telephone numbers. In the event of a lawsuit, this is the information needed to reach out to the defendant or the complainant.
Insurance
Check whether your contractor has the proper insurance policies, covering a range of possibilities, from bodily harm and injuries, destruction of properties, to natural calamities. If a contractor is going to work in your home without insurance, you may be held liable for whatever accident that could possibly happen. You want to make sure that the contractor has, at the very least, general liability insurance and worker’s compensation insurance for their staff.
Scope of Work
Even after two successful personal meetings where you created a list of the things you want to be done, foregoing a contract is still a no-no. By the time the construction begins in your house, half of what has been said during the meetings will have been forgotten. The successful fulfillment of these plans depends on how detailed they are in the contract. Make sure that the contract stipulates the scope of the work in great detail.
Duration of Work
There’s a lot that can happen in a short time. Your contractor may fall ill. There could be an accident on the site. There could be natural calamities. This part of the contract will ensure that the work will finish at the agreed time. It’s not about how many hours a day the contractor works on the project, but it’s about the completion of the plans.
Payments
Most payment schedules and setups are tied to project milestones. Some are tied to the percentage of completion. No matter what kind of setup the contract stipulates, what’s important is that both parties agree to the schedule. You should not be paying for more than what’s been completed. Otherwise, an unscrupulous contractor can just leave the project hanging.
Warranty
In most cases, a contractor’s warranty lasts for one year. This means that within this period of time, there should be no major structural damage to the project. In some cases, even natural calamities such as typhoons and earthquakes are included in the contract. You’ll find that the best contractors offer an extended warranty because they are confident with the durability of their work.
A contract is a guide, something that both parties can consult when they hit a bump in their working relationship. Before signing your name on the dotted line, make sure that you have read the contract from beginning to end. The devil, they said, is in the details, so clear up any vague items that could lead to misconceptions and misunderstandings in the future.
