contractors want to be happy and successful in their daily lives. Not all contractors want to rip you off.

 contractors in and throughout the United States typically go into business for one reason: to make money. Many wish to work for themselves and find a way to make ends meet for their families. Regardless of their reasons, they want to be successful and build an empire in their local area. They want to be the number one result for “best contractor near me” when someone searches for contractors online. Anyone going into business desires to be the top result and best company in any industry. They will always be that small percentage that make up a criminal element, but contractors don’t usually go into business to rip off their customers. They wish to be the best of the best because they know that those who rip customers off do not usually end up being successful for very long.

You need to understand that contractors are individuals looking to make their way in the world and provide the best services possible. However, some do not make the right choices and find themselves with their backs against the wall. In this post, we will dive deep into these topics and shine light on this typically hidden corner of the contractor world. What you learn may surprise you.

Oftentimes, home- and business owners miss a very important detail about the contractors they hire contractors are people too. They go into business to become someone of importance. Someone they themselves are proud of when they go to sleep at night. They chase the same desires as any other individual brave enough to chase dreams of making their own success.

When you first meet your contractor, you will immediately notice:

• They are kind,
• they are honest (or should be at least – keep reading to better understand this comment),
• they are personable,
• they are time conscience,
• they are knowledgeable,
• and they are understanding.

Your possible contractor is a human being, and you have to see that. You can pick the best contractor or the worst one if you are unable to see and understand what it takes to select the right contractor for your project. The first true step is to see them as an individual and judge their character.

If they treat you with respect, provide in depth answers to your questions, and keep an on-time schedule, you know you are on track to selecting the right contractor and avoiding a deadly pitfall. If someone seems off about them or they can’t say more than you would be able to discover in a 30 second Google search, trust your gut and thank them for their time. You can get multiple quotes, but you can’t keep purchasing multiple projects because you selected the wrong contractor.

We have established that the worst and the best contractors are still people. Now, we will explain why contractors wind up ripping off their customers, besides the criminal element. There isn’t much reasoning behind it.  contractors go into business to make money, but they just make bad decisions along the way. Their bad business decisions put their backs into a corner, and they become stuck. They feel they don’t have a way out, so they begin to take advantage of uneducated customers in order to make ends meet. These bad business decisions cause them to:

• Do less to maximize profits
• Hire untrained employees
• Create quicker turnarounds
• Lower operating costs
• Optimize cash flow
• Sell unrealistic timelines

When you search “contractors near me” and find prices and offerings that don’t sound right, they usually aren’t. You truly get what you pay for when it comes to your project, and you want to ensure you hire a reliable contractor company that has the permits, materials, and team you need.

These individuals who, unfortunately, rip off their customers in the end initially didn’t know how to sell their work. They ended up selling on price and/or underbidding themselves. They provided empty promises with the wild idea they could meet their own unrealistic expectations.

It doesn’t matter if they didn’t have the cash flow to purchase materials for the project, had untrained employees on staff, or provided a project timeline. The contractor who inevitably ripped off their customers did not begin their business to take advantage of people. They wanted to make a difference in their lives and their community.

You must recognize the difference between those who hope to complete a project and those who can complete a project.

It’s important to partner with the best contractor company when you are in need of any type of project. You deserve a team on your side that will get up on your project on time and will take correct measurements – not guesstimates. You also deserve to have a team that knows exactly what they are doing, pulls the right permits, and has the best experience in the area.

If you go with a contractor that has consistently made bad decisions and put themselves into a position of needing to rip individuals off in order to make ends meet, you may not get the project you desire. In fact, you may even run into issues of never finishing the project.