Hiring "new" contractors

[Lamb]

When hiring a contractor to do a big job, would you hire someone new to the scene that's less than 5 years in business?

We're looking at roofers and there is a guy coming today to give a quote that's been in business for 2 years now. Will he still be around in 2 more years if we have problems with the roof if we go with him, to honor a warranty? What rights do we have? Should we look at roofers who have been in business longer?

 

[tango]

When hiring a contractor to do a big job, would you hire someone new to the scene that's less than 5 years in business?

We're looking at roofers and there is a guy coming today to give a quote that's been in business for 2 years now. Will he still be around in 2 more years if we have problems with the roof if we go with him, to honor a warranty? What rights do we have? Should we look at roofers who have been in business longer?

The trouble is there's no way of knowing. You could hire a contractor that has been in business for 100 years only to find they go out of business before they even finish the job. I know it's a completely different business but if you roll the clock back 30 years nobody would have expected Barings or Lehman Brothers to go belly up.

You'd hope a contractor who had been in the business of doing major jobs (the kind where you'd expect a substantial warranty) for a short time to offer some kind of external insurance to cover them in case they were unable to honor it themselves. The fact he's only been doing it two years doesn't mean he won't do a good job, but hopefully he'll have some good references he can offer you. Truth be told these days you'd hope for some kind of insurance anyway, given how easily a company can go under.

I'd certainly be wary of working with a contractor who had a very short track record who couldn't offer any references you could verify, and who couldn't offer some form of insurance on their work.

Do you or your husband know enough about roofing to be able to ask the sort of questions to flush out the fly-by-night cowboy operators? If not, do you know someone who does who might be able to give you some pointers?

 

[Lamb]

The trouble is there's no way of knowing. You could hire a contractor that has been in business for 100 years only to find they go out of business before they even finish the job. I know it's a completely different business but if you roll the clock back 30 years nobody would have expected Barings or Lehman Brothers to go belly up.

You'd hope a contractor who had been in the business of doing major jobs (the kind where you'd expect a substantial warranty) for a short time to offer some kind of external insurance to cover them in case they were unable to honor it themselves. The fact he's only been doing it two years doesn't mean he won't do a good job, but hopefully he'll have some good references he can offer you. Truth be told these days you'd hope for some kind of insurance anyway, given how easily a company can go under.

I'd certainly be wary of working with a contractor who had a very short track record who couldn't offer any references you could verify, and who couldn't offer some form of insurance on their work.

Do you or your husband know enough about roofing to be able to ask the sort of questions to flush out the fly-by-night cowboy operators? If not, do you know someone who does who might be able to give you some pointers?

We've replaced roofs on two other homes before, but it's been decades since we last did that!

The guy showed up and showed us videos of what we have and he said it's really good for its age. There isn't enough damage to put in a claim for insurance, though.