BEFORE YOU HIRE A CONTRACTOR
Before You Hire a Contractor
Before You Hire a Contractor, spend one evening and thirty nine dollars. It stands between you and a project worth thousands.
What to check, what to ask, and what a fair deal looks like, written by a working contractor.
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Before You Hire a Contractor
Hiring the wrong contractor can cost you far more than the original project.
Before You Hire a Contractor gives you the information most homeowners don’t know to ask about until something has already gone wrong. Learn what to look for in proposals and contracts, which questions actually matter, what warning signs shouldn’t be ignored, and how to protect yourself before you hand over a deposit or sign an agreement.
Written from real-world experience inside the home improvement industry, this guide helps you walk into the hiring process knowing what to look for, what to question, and what should be in place before work begins.
A few minutes of preparation before you hire could save you months of frustration and thousands of dollars later.
The Signature Is Where It Goes Wrong
Once you sign, the price can grow, the timeline can slide, and the work you thought you agreed to turns out not to be in writing. Most homeowners find out what their contract actually says after something has already gone wrong.
You do not do this every day. A contractor does. This guide shows you what a contractor sees when they read a proposal and a contract, so you can read yours the same way before your name goes on it.
Read it tonight and you will know what to check before you sign, which questions matter, and what a fair proposal and a fair payment schedule actually look like. You will walk into that signing calm, because you will already know where the traps are.
What Is Inside
The guide covers, in order:
✓ Proposals: how to read one and what should be spelled out
✓ Scope: what is included, what is not, and why that gap costs you
✓ Products: what to specify so allowances do not quietly shrink your job
✓ Allowances: how they work and how they get spent
✓ Payment terms: what a fair schedule looks like before you pay a deposit
✓ Hidden conditions: the clause that lets the price change after you sign
✓ Change orders: how changes get priced and approved
✓ Timeline: what to get in writing before work starts
✓ Warranty: what to confirm before the final payment
✓ The final review: everything you check before you sign
✓ The 10 biggest mistakes homeowners make when hiring a contractor
What You Get
A 17 page digital guide you can read the same evening you buy it, on your phone, tablet, or computer.
Plus three blank tools you fill in as you go:
✓ Proposal Comparison Worksheet: compare proposals side by side, in the same terms
✓ Payment Schedule Planner: map the payments before you agree to them
✓ Final Contract Checklist: run it before you sign, every time
The guide does not sell information. It walks you to a decision: sign, or walk away, and know exactly why.
From the author
I'm Amy. I have worked as a general contractor for ten years, running residential projects from the first meeting to the final walkthrough. I wrote this guide because I sit on the other side of the table. I know what a fair proposal looks like, what a fair payment schedule looks like, and where homeowners get hurt when nobody tells them what to check.
Everything in here is what I would want my own family to know before signing with anyone.
The sentence I hear most from homeowners is this one: I wish I had known that before I signed.
Amy
The Home Brief
Questions
How do I get the guide?
The moment you check out, you get instant access to download it. Read it on your phone, tablet, or computer.
I am already talking to a contractor. Is it too late?
No. If you have not signed anything yet, this is exactly when it helps most.
What if the download does not work?
Contact us and we will make it right. This covers delivery problems only, not a change of mind after you have read the guide.
SIGN IT CALM
Thirty nine dollars. One evening. A project worth thousands protected before it starts.