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During these rough economic times many people are struggling underneath mountains of debt. A great way to be able to consolidate your debt down to one payment and be able to protect your credit rating is personal consolidation loans. Even though, this may sound encouraging you want to find those companies that are reputable and be able to effectively consolidate all of your debt down. To do this requires that you consider a number of different factors to be able to find the right debt consolidation loan for you such as:
One, add up all your total debt, before you contact anyone you want to add up all of the personal debt that you have, seeing how much you owe, how much interest you are paying and how much your monthly payments are. This will help you to know where you are currently sitting so that when you do consolidate your debt down you will know all of the figures of your present situation and be able to compare them with the different debt consolidation loans. Two, make sure you are consolidating enough to take care of the most pressing debts, when you do consolidate your debt down you want to make sure that you are consolidating the high interest loans such as credit cards, medical bills, student loans and car loans. Three, compare what the different lenders have to offer, many people think that their lender will give the best rate possible and be able to consolidate down all of their debt. While many can do this the job of the lender is to get you to consolidate your debt down with them. This means that you must compare the interest rates with what the different companies have to offer compared to what you are paying now along with the monthly payment. This will help you to find the right debt consolidation loan which will reduce your monthly payment dramatically, lower your interest rate significantly and help you to be able to consolidate all of your loans down to one due on one date versus several. Clearly debt consolidation is a great way to be able to consolidate all your debt down to one manageable payment. By using the above tips you will be able to find the right debt consolidation loan that is right for your personal situation.
1. Ask around and find out how long the contractor has been working locally. It is common to see instability in this field. Too many painting contractors will blow into town and do shoddy work for a few years, then they begin to feel the wrath of homeowner who is not satisfied with their work and they pack it up and move to the next city. If the contractor you are considering has, at least 10 years in your area this is a good indication of stability, not to mention quality.
2. Does the Contractor pay his help by the hour or on a percentage basis? When I started my business in 1982, I paid my painters by the hour. After about 7 years of paying by the hour and being dissatisfied with their performance, I decided to switch to paying on a percentage basis. I found that the quality of work went up dramatically and the projects were completed in half the time.
The painters had an improved mindset when being paid on a percentage basis. The painters also have a special interest in the quality and timeliness of their work. Better performance means a smaller punch list at the end of the job and in less time, resulting in better pay.
While you need to ask this question of your contractor, it is only a suggested method of business. There are a good number of painters that have a wonderful work ethic and are paid by the hour.
My experience has been however that the best results came from a percentage basis. I will never go back to paying painters by the hour.
3. Does the Contractor present a well written and organized contract to sign that outlines what he is going to do? This is a good indication of how organized he is. If he is well organized, in most cases it will carry over to his crews. Well organize people are very uncomfortable with disorganization and generally will work to maintain well organized projects and crews.
4. Does the contractor ask for a deposit up front? Although the size of a project may dictate whether a deposit is appropriate or not, for the average size painting and repair project (3,000 to 8,000) I strongly recommend not paying a deposit.
Your painting contractor should have no problems financing the project he is considering. If he does that is an indication that the contractor is not financially stable. When a contractor is waiting to be paid, you are likely to have his full attention to detail and an assurance that your happiness is the number one goal.
I have heard many stories through the years of homeowners who have given the deposit only to have the contractor leave after a day or two of work never to be seen again.
5. Since the first day you contacted the contractor how well has he communicated with you? Has he quickly answered all of your questions or concerns?
Quality professional contractors value good communication. The importance a contractor puts on communication will give you another clue to his core values. While your project is being completed, you will want to work with someone who communicates effectively.
6. Are the contractor´s employees covered by workman´s compensation? This is an important point as many contractors will have liability insurance but this is nowhere near the same, as worker´s comp. Liability insurance does not cover painters or other employees if they are injured on your property.
How well the contractor is covering his team in case of injury is something else to take into consideration. When a contractor has several people paid cash under the table, there is no proof that they work for a particular company and therefore are not covered by any insurance. You could be put at financial risk in a situation like this. Besides this just gives you more insight into the type of Marietta painting contractor you are working with. You are within your rights to call the contractors insurance company to answer some of these important questions.
7. Be sure and check their references. Even though they will give you their best references, you can still get a feel for qualities such as neatness, timeliness, communication, and overall opinion of quality of the job. Keep in mind though, everybody has their own opinion of what constitutes a quality job so don\’t decide based solely on their references.
8. Stay away from the cutthroat type contractor. These guys are more concerned with volume and will turn out as many projects as they can chasing a profit. Quality takes a back seat to quantity and there are few if any values driving the company. More times than not you will suffer using this kind of contractor.
9. Make sure it is understood there is to be a walk through between you and the head of the crew to take care of touch ups and any issues before you pay for the services. This is crucial, both for you and the contractor.
This walk through insures that you are happy with the work and helps to minimize or eliminate warranty issues for the painting contractor, saving the company both time and money. This is the best approach for wrapping up a project and seasoned contractors who are concerned about customer service are aware of this.
10. The following are more obvious things to look at, a business license, unsettled complaints listed with the BBB, how long has the company been around, how many people work for them and a well written contract including warranties.
Keep quality as your first priority. Qualify your Marietta contractor before you hire them, you will be so glad you did. You will have less to worry about while the work is ongoing and end up with a beautiful home with paint that will last longer.
Owner Texas Karate Do
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