Video: Vetting Contractors in Sonoma County

PETALUMA — Host, Sarah Rutan: Following the recent wildfires and floods in Sonoma County, the resulting shortage of construction labor has made it challenging for locals to find quality contractors. Today we’re in Petaluma with Diamond Certified Expert Contributor Ron Evenich of Evenich Construction to learn some helpful tips.

Diamond Certified Expert Contributor, Ron Evenich: As many of you know, the recent wildfires and last winter’s floodings have created a shortage in general contractors. We have a lot of contractors coming in from Central and Southern California and from even out of state. There’s also a huge shortage of qualified skilled labor to perform all the work that needs to be completed in Sonoma and the surrounding counties. The first thing is to make sure that your general contractor that you are requesting bids from is currently licensed and insured with no complaints on file with the California State License Board. You can do that by contacting the California State License Board on the Internet.

The second thing is to make sure that they have current and up-to-date liability insurance and workman’s comp insurance and can provide you with a certificate and an additional insured endorsement. Next, you should require that these contractors through the bid process provide you with a itemized breakdown of construction costs and a written scope of work that defines the work to be completed per your drawings. You should also always ask for a list of current projects and past projects so you can call and verify that these contractors are good to work with and doing a good job for the people they are currently and have worked for in the past. And last, always require a signed contract and give no more than a l0% deposit of the total amount of the job.

Host, Sarah Rutan: To learn more from local, top rated companies, visit our Diamond Certified Expert Reports at experts.diamondcertified.org.