Choosing the Best Contractor for Your Kitchen Remodel

BackChoosing the Best Contractor for Your Kitchen Remodel02/27/24

Whether you’ve been in your home for decades or just moved in, you may need to remodel the kitchen. Remodeling the kitchen can help to improve the overall functionality, boost property and resale value, and make your life more comfortable while making memories. However, unless you’re a skilled DIYer with so much experience with renovation work, you’ll need expert help even for minor changes.

RELATED: How to Hire a Kitchen Contractor

Although choosing the right contractor for your kitchen remodel project is another big task, as so many unskilled contractors are always trying to lure people in with fake information. But worry not; in this article, we’ve gathered all the basics you’ll need to keep in mind when choosing the right contractor for your kitchen remodeling project. Let’s get started.

What Is Your Kitchen Remodeling Goal?

Before you choose the right contractor for a kitchen remodeling project, you must know what you actually want from the project. You need to set goals, whether it needs demolition, repair, or installation, and have ideas on what amenities you want or how you want your kitchen to look to determine what kind of contractor will be best for you.

Depending on your goal, you may need to hire a kitchen remodeling specialist or any general contractor with experience in kitchen renovations. You’ll also need to set your probable kitchen renovation budget to save more time on selecting contractors or avoid unwanted problems.

Check out this gallery of kitchen remodeling projects that Wineteer has completed for many Kansas City area residents. From Olathe and Leawood to Blue Springs and Lee’s Summit, the Wineteer team specializes in the design and build of the highest quality kitchen remodels. 

The Kitchen Remodel Contractor Checklist

When you want to get the right and perfect contractor for your kitchen remodeling project, you need to look for some specific attributes to compare and find the best one. The checklist of those qualities is:

• Competence with proven skills, plenty of experience, successful records, and high standards.
• Make sure the contractor has a local reputation for providing good work.
• Credentials from necessary national and local agencies.
• Coverage ability for worker’s compensation, property damage, and personal liability.
• Timeline or working hours for their remodeling to ensure it doesn’t hamper your life.
• Personality of the contractor and supervisor, if they’re friendly, helpful, positive, and listen to your demands carefully.
• Communication skills and types that the project owner is okay with.
• Comfort level of discussion and work with the contractor.
• Budget expectations of the contractor.

Steps to Choose the Right Contractor for Kitchen Remodel

If you follow these steps accordingly, you can choose the right contractor for your kitchen remodeling:

Find Local Candidates

First, you need to find all the qualified remodeling contractors or specialists in your area. Contractors that aren’t local won’t accept the job or ask for a fortune. You can search online with location-based recommendations, as almost all businesses are usually listed on Google nowadays. Also, you can see the ratings, reviews, and if they do kitchen remodeling.

Another good way to find a trusted contractor is to get recommendations from colleagues, friends, relatives, or neighbors who have done kitchen remodeling or know a good contractor by any chance. It’ll make the research into finding the right contractor smoother. Make a list of all the contractors you’ve found intriguing.

Investigations and Research

Now it’s time to dig deeper to make a shortlist of all the candidates you’ve listed before. Check and do research on each of them to make sure they have experience, and have licenses from your local regulatory agency or licensing board. Only keep experienced contractors with credibility on the new list.

Get Quotations

In this step, you should reach out to all the shortlisted contractors and ask for detailed quotes on your kitchen remodeling project. Some contractors only provide the final price, which can be less credible. That’s why you should ask them to provide a breakdown of materials, labor, permits, or any other fees. In this way, you’ll be able to compare the quotes and ensure quality at a fair price.

Interview

If you selected one or several potential contractors after reviewing the quotes and want to select the perfect one for the project, you need to meet with them in person to discuss the project details and ask some prepared questions. The questions you can ask them are as follows:

• What’s the experience period, and how much kitchen remodeling has been done till now?
• Does the company have special achievements in remodeling?
• What are the payment and payment procedure expectations?
• Is the agency licensed and insured? If so, what insurance is covered?
• How experienced is the project supervisor with kitchen remodeling?
• What’s the communication style for the project?
• How long will it take to finish the project?
• Can you provide at least three references or a history of past projects?
• Do you accept change orders and how will you handle them?

These are a few of the usual questions you can ask, and you can add other questions depending on the situation. Listen carefully to their answers and how fluently they’re answering you because it will provide you with significant insights on how confident and experienced they are. Also, it’ll be a great chance to see the level of comfortability in communication with them.

Check References

If all the interviewed contractors provide several references to their past projects, you need to research them thoroughly. These references and histories can help you learn more about the work style and quality of the contractors. Compare the before and after images of their projects, how much the projects cost, and, if possible, contact some of the project owners for their experiences with the contractors. Another wonderful option to evaluate a company is through Google reviews.

Review Contracts

Once you’ve completed your final investigations and selected a contractor for the job, review the contract details carefully. There should be detailed information about completion dates, fees, permits, descriptions of products, services, and materials, payment terms, subcontractor information, consequences of failures, dispute resolution terms, etc. If you see anything missing from the contract, ask them to do it in detail before signing.

If you can choose the right contractor, you’ll be able to turn your dream into reality. If you’re in the Kansas City area, Wineteer can help you with the design and build process. Reach out today for a free estimate. 913-717-6325 or https://wineteerconstruction.com/contact-us/