Guide 1 of 8 · Before you hire · Free
Before You Hire
Most homeowner problems start before a contract is ever signed. This guide gives you the checklist, the questions, and the red flags so you have leverage while you still have it. It also covers the kitchen-table sales conversation: how to recognize pressure, slow it down, and end a meeting without a signature.
Free to read. Free to download. Print the toolkit pages for the kitchen table.
What is inside
- 1The five most expensive hiring mistakes, with the bill for each
- 2Leverage: what it is, and the one diagram to remember
- 3The sales conversation, explained without judgment
- 4Vetting a contractor: license, insurance, history, crew
- 5Certifications: what they mean and what they do not
- 6Red flags, and what to do when you see one
- 7The hiring checklist
The toolkit pages
- Contractor Comparison Scorecard: fourteen things to verify, three contractors side by side
- Questions to Ask Any Salesperson
Printable and fillable. Built to be used at the kitchen table, not read on a screen.
What this guide protects you from
Signing with the wrong contractor, or the right one on the wrong terms.
Look inside
Sample pages from this guide
A few pages as they appear in the PDF, including a drawing and a toolkit page. Tap a page to see it larger.
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Start where you are
Your first big repair on your own
Your first roof, siding or window project on your own: where to start, the questions to ask, what a contract should say, and how payments should move.
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We read each bid into the same seventeen lines and print the questions to ask. Nothing is ranked.
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Guide 2: Bids, Estimates and Scopes of Work