Contractor vetting kit

Hire right the first time. It’s cheaper.

The most expensive contractor is the one you have to fire mid-project, or the one whose work a second contractor has to tear out. This kit is the vetting process we’d hand a family member: how to read a quote, what to verify, the questions that separate professionals from salesmen, and a worksheet to compare bids on equal footing.

Why three quotes for the same job can be $30,000 apart

Wildly different numbers usually mean the contractors priced different jobs. One assumed premium moisture-resistant materials ($15–25/sq ft more than basic), one included permits and code-compliant installation, one left both out to win on price and planned to bill them back as “extras.” The labor rate gap is real too: licensed contractors run $85–120/hour, that buys insurance, licensing and a warranty, against $45–65/hour for unlicensed crews that come with none of it.

Instant disqualifiers

Any one of these ends the conversation. They’re the common threads in nearly every horror story we get called to fix:

• ✕No verifiable Georgia license. Georgia requires one for work over $2,500, and checking takes 30 seconds at verify.sos.ga.gov. Can’t produce it within 24 hours? Done.
• ✕Asks for 50% or more upfront. Large deposits fund the last customer’s job, not yours. A professional asks for 10–15%.
• ✕Cash only, door-to-door, or PO-box / cell-only contact. No local footprint means no one to find when there’s a problem.
• ✕Pressure tactics. “This price is only valid this week” is a sales script, not a construction schedule.
• ✕A bid 20%+ below market. Basement work below roughly $40–65/sq ft basic can’t cover permits, insurance and code compliance. Something is missing, and you’ll pay for it later.

Past the disqualifiers, vetting is a positive exercise: the questions that reveal real expertise, what a complete quote must contain, and the payment structure that keeps you protected…