Video: Assessing Contractor Referrals

GILROY – Host, Sarah Rutan: When getting client referrals from a prospective contractor, there are some important things to be aware of. Today we’re in Gilroy with Diamond Certified Expert Contributor Richard Gallardo of RG Builders to learn more.

Diamond Certified Expert Contributor, Richard Gallardo: Hi. I want to talk to you about referrals. Referrals are important in the sense of, you get a good feel for the contractor that way. An important thing to look for is a couple of long-term clients preferably. Clients that the contractor’s done work for for over a decade is always nice. Secondly would be clients that you’ve just started the project. You’re going to get a really good feel from those people as to whether the contractor shows up and does his work, and how his employees do their work.

Thirdly would be projects that the contractor’s in the middle of. Usually about the middle of the road, if any major problems have come up, you’re going to — If you call the referral, the referral will be honest with you and let you know, “Gosh, he handled this this way, or he didn’t handle this very well.” And then finally, the most important one is projects that have just been completed recently. Preferably within three to six months. Those people are going to give you an honest opinion of the contractor and how their work was done and whether they were completely satisfied by that contractor or not.

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