Choosing The Right Contractor
Are All Contractors Created Equally?
Unfortunately, no. There are plenty of honest and trustworthy paving and concrete contractors in Columbus. Some contractors have a bad repetition. Our goal isn’t to list out these companies. We want to teach you what to look for when choosing a contractor and what to watch out for.
Contractors Don’t Have Extra Asphalt.
Extra asphalt? Sounds great, but it's not. Imagine you are sitting at your house one afternoon and you hear a knock on your door. You open the door and a man is standing there. He tells you that they are working up the road and have some extra asphalt on the truck. They can pave your driveway for a great price.
This sounds too good to be true, right? It is too good to be true. If you take this guy up on his “deal” you are going to regret it. Asphalt is the most expensive part of the paving process. We calculate how much asphalt we use very accurately. We don’t have extra asphalt. Also, asphalt needs to be hot to work with. If they did have extra asphalt, it would have been on the truck so long that you couldn’t work it anyway.
What these companies do is have a truck waiting at the asphalt plant. When they get someone on the hook, they will bring asphalt to the job site and do a poor job. Once the job is complete, before you start seeing rapid failure, they grab the cash and run. Don't fall for this trap.
Reputation.
Reputation is key. We don’t expect everyone to know all of the good paving companies in Columbus but you can check this pretty easily. If you google paving companies near you, you are going to find a big list of companies.
Sometimes a 5-star review isn’t the best choice. When paving companies are new, they sometimes have their friends and families give them a review. A company might be a 5-star paving company but only have a few reviews. This is probably a risky choice. Look for a paving company with over 3 stars and hundreds of reviews. Sometimes things don’t always go as planned in the construction industry but a company with hundreds of reviews is a better pick than one with a handful.
Published Office.
Does the company have a posted office address? The paving process requires many large pieces of equipment. This equipment needs to be stored somewhere. If they don’t have an office, they most likely are a small traveling operation that most likely won’t give you a good quality product. A professional paving operation will have an office that is advertised to the public.
On top of this, what happens if you have a problem with the work performed? Sure you could call or email them but what if they don’t respond? Hopefully, you will never have to do it, but it is important to have a company address that you can go to in case something doesn’t go as planned.
Pick The Right Company.
Deciding on the right paving or concrete contractor is an important decision. Hopefully, this information can help lead you to pick the right one. If you are interested in getting a quote or have additional questions about choosing the right contractor, give me a call.
