Reply to Contractor recommendations for large addition & thoughts on cost

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Hi 15:56, I wrote the 15:38 post. You're right, the building permit data itself doesn't say anything about quality or customer satisfaction. However (depending on the county/jurisdiction) there is a lot of other data available on where the contractor has worked, the number and types of projects they have done, and average project cost (if the county tracks this).

Looking at all this aggregated across multiple cities/counties may (or may not!) be helpful in choosing one contractor vs. another if price is not the only factor you are looking at. Since I am market testing the service I am still determining if the quantitative vs. qualitative analysis is more valuable to potential customers.

Feel free to email me if you would like to discuss in more detail. (Address is km@vrble.com)[/quote]

I'm not sure why you would need to pay someone to do this, but I think the advice about looking at potential contractors for your job in the permit records Montgomery County undoubtedly makes accessible online is a great idea. We did this for Arlington and were able to identify those contractors doing these high dollar additions. In many cases you can look at websites for examples of their work and drive by projects. You can also contact the contractors and get them to give you references who you can call and ask about their experiences and satisfaction with the contractor.

We ended up going with an Architect and are in the design phase now, but we are keeping in contact with one of the builders we like who is costing out the proposals. We fully plan to seek competitive bids from other builders and vet builders by checking references. Our architect gave us the names and numbers of close to 15 people and we called and talked to every single one of them. Some of the references let us come over to their house and look at the final work. [/quote]

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