If you are like most homeowners, when it’s time to add a new outdoor living space or renovate an existing one, you want to hire a professional you can rely on to get it done right from the start. But exactly how do you go about finding a qualified and experienced contractor without just relying on the luck of the draw? As a leader in the outdoor living space design and construction industry, Archadeck of Nashville believes luck has absolutely nothing to do with it.
We realize your home is probably one of the largest investments you will make in your lifetime. Spending the time to find a contractor who specializes in outdoor living structures to work on your home will pay off in the long run. In much the same way there are hundreds of doctors available in our area, there are just as many contractors. We all know scheduling an appointment with a veterinarian for your annual physical exam just won’t get the job done quite right. Although a veterinarian can perform physical exams, they’re qualified to perform them on animals, not humans — in much the same way Archadeck of Nashville has the experience and knowledge over a general contractor or handyman when it comes to building your deck, porch, patio or other outdoor living structure.
There are basic qualities or aspects you should consider when selecting a contractor that’s just right for the job:
•Experience
•Professionalism
•Process
•Value
•Ability to Offer a Customized Product
•Attention to Detail
•Warranty & Protection
Experience
A contractor’s experience in the field directly affects your overall experience as a client. It’s essential that an outdoor living structure contractor possess the skills to manage a project and the many details involved from start to finish. Many of these skills, such as initial property assessment and designs that include structural integrity, come from years of hands-on experience. A lack of experience can lead to a structure that doesn’t blend seamlessly with your home’s architectural style, isn’t structurally sound and lacks longevity.
Professionalism
By definition, professionalism means possessing the skill, good judgment and business-like behavior that is expected from a person who is trained to do a job well. No matter what service is being performed on or around your home, every Nashville-area homeowner deserves and should demand professionalism.
Even though it’s clear what being professional means, sometimes it’s hard to determine a professional outdoor living space contractor from a builder. Don’t forget, you can stand a veterinarian and a medical doctor side by side and not know the difference without checking a few things like their licensing/credentials and insurance. Likewise, a professional outdoor living space contractor should have a high standard of knowledge and should carry proper insurance.This also means the builder and team should be properly licensed with a solid knowledge of building codes.
A professional should be reliable in not only their technical commitments for the project but in communication with you as well, right from the beginning with the initial consultation. A professional will provide a finished product that you will live with and remain satisfied with every day, a pain-free construction project built with the maximum value at a fair price. They should be competent in the construction field, following building codes and requirements and stand behind their work with the appropriate warranties. Here at Archadeck of Nashville, we consider codes a minimum as we build to a higher standard than the required building codes. Thus, delivering a structure that not only meets your expectations but exceeds them.
You can easily check for these qualities from the references a potential contractor should provide, you can also check the contractor’s Net Promoter Score. The Net Promoter Score is a customer satisfaction, customer experience and loyalty indicator that measures the likelihood of customers to recommend a company, product or service to a friend or colleague. Archadeck of Nashville finished 2017 with a Best-in-Class customer satisfaction rate based on the NPS system. You can read more about our NPS at Archadeck of Nashville Receives Customer Service Award Based on Exemplary Net Promoter Score.
Process
Adhering to a process, or series of steps in which to do something, garners consistent results, improved efficiency and higher quality work. Using checklists and procedures combined with proper planning reduces the opportunities for overlooked items and delays.
How do you know if your contractor effectively uses good processes? Start by checking their sales process and then ask during your vetting process. Find out what your contractor’s method for planning and monitoring construction will be. Do they actually use written checklists for ensuring that all steps get addressed before, during and after construction? Is there a supervisor or manager holding the crews responsible for following these processes?
Value
Providing clients with more bang for their buck makes a contractor more valuable. What types of additional services can they provide and still maintain quality? As part of the Archadeck franchise system, North America’s largest deck and porch builder, Archadeck of Nashville is backed by a national network of experts. We have an established national relationship with several preferred material vendors and gladly share our expertise in form and function to create the perfect outdoor living environment just for you.
Ability to Offer Customized Product
You should expect that a full-service contractor will add value in helping you design your own unique outdoor living project. You should be able to see your contractor in action during the design phase before you make a decision to commit to a contractor to build your project. They should point out smaller features you may not be aware of that will enhance the project without adding major costs. If you don’t get the impressions that he/she is thoughtful, considerate of your ideas and responsive, then now is the time to move on to someone else. But if they take care of you during the early stages of the project, then odds are good that you will be able to work well with him/her to bring your job to completion and that you’ll have the custom-built outdoor living space of your dreams.
Attention to Detail
A high-quality contractor increases their level of thought and effort for defining the details of a project to help make it unique. Sometimes the only way to determine a contractor’s attention to detail is to look at his work and compare it to the work of others. If you don’t have an experienced eye for noticing these details, your prospective contractor should be able to easily and proudly point them out to you. But I bet that you can tell by looking at some examples of projects if they display the style and touches that you expect, even if you can’t put your finger on exactly what those touches are.
Warranty and Protection
The warranty serves as the backup plan for a consumer if things don’t go right with the builder. This applies to major problems in having the project completed (unscrupulous contractors have been known to walk away from a job when it gets difficult or too expensive to make things right) or may apply to things that come up after the job is done and the contractor has been paid.
A warranty is important because it outlines in advance what the builder is and isn’t willing to do to fix problems after the fact. Without a warranty, the homeowner still has certain protections under the laws regarding implied warranties. However, claims under these laws require the homeowner to file a legal claim and can be time-consuming and expensive, not to mention stressful. A homeowner’s best protection regarding warranty issues is to use a builder that is stable and has a good reputation.
Archadeck of Nashville is backed by a warranty that covers the entire project (meaning that we will fix anything that’s not right) for one year, and further covers structural issues (foundations, the integrity of framing, etc.) for a period of five years. In addition, Archadeck actually provides a guaranteed insurance program that covers customers if the local Archadeck office cannot complete a project due to death, illness or going out of business. In this event, the Archadeck corporate office will pay to have the project completed by another Archadeck location.
The Proven Choice
Although doing your due diligence when choosing the right contractor for your outdoor living space project doesn’t guarantee that you will find the perfect contractor, it will help you narrow down the playing field in order for you to more easily identify a top-notch contractor, like Archadeck of Nashville.
Contact us today to learn more about working with a best in class outdoor living company! You can reach us at (615) 640-3628, or send us an email at nashville@archadeck.net.
