Making Sure You Get a Fair Price and the Final Bill Won’t Exceed the Quote

Our customer surveys have taught us that pricing is a top concern. The National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators’ most recent consumer survey said the home improvement industry received the highest number of complaints across the board. Many of the consumer complaints related to overcharging.

This is where you can get caught by scams and here’s how they work: a contractor or repair company will give you a low-ball price to get your job and then do a poor job, use substandard materials, ask for more money after the project is started, or after getting your deposit, skip town and not do the project at all. You know a local company with no BBB complaints and advertisements in the phone book is not going to skip town with your money. Don’t ever hire someone who comes to your door offering you a “deal” because they had a job cancellation or available time in their schedule they need to fill. They could be one of those operations that gets an up-front deposit and then disappears.

So how do you protect yourself without being an experienced contractor yourself?

If you are looking for a large-scale project, make sure you get a written quote on the letterhead of a local company specifying exactly what will and will not be done, get a written guarantee of performance and a guarantee the final price will not exceed the quote.

At Handyman Matters, we price our jobs on a “Time Plus Materials” (T+M) basis. This ensures you will only pay for the work we complete and any materials we purchase, and at any time you can stop our services. All of our craftspersons and employees are members of the local community and have been appropriately screened, tested and trained. Additionally, they are held accountable by the local and home office for their actions and measured by customer satisfaction feedback forms. To save money on all your projects, you should be aware of the pricing methods in the home repair industry and what they mean.