At some point, every landlord and property manager will need to know how to hire a flooring company for rental property. This guide will help.
How to Hire a Flooring Company for Rental Property – an Overview
If you think just picking out the right flooring is all you need to do when getting new floors, you might want to think again. What if you hired an efficient team to do your installation? What if they ruin the flooring installation making it look uneven? Yes, this could happen. In fact, it happens all the time.
That’s why it’s important to know how to hire a flooring company that knows what they’re doing. While there are many companies out there claiming to best in the business, you cannot authenticate everything they claim. This is why it is important that you do a bit of your research to make sure you have hired the best your money can buy.
The first step of that is finding the best flooring companies in your area.
How to Find the Best Flooring Company
We always say there are three main ways to find contractors: referrals, the Internet, and offline
Referrals – This is just word-of-mouth advertising. If your friend or coworker or someone in your real estate club can refer you to a flooring company, that’s a good place to start. That said, you should take the recommendation with a grain of salt, and you should still look them up online.
Online – The bread and butter of any property manager and landlord. Sites like Google make it easy to find companies in your area that can do the work. Review sites like Angie’s List can also help, and in a way are better because they often have coupons and more customer reviews than Google/Bing.
Offline – When you’re in the market for new floors, you may start to notice flooring companies as you drive around town. Or those fliers in the mail from floorers may all of a sudden standout. That’s a good way to first hear about these companies, but again you should check them out online.
Once you’ve narrowed down the list, it’s time to learn more about the companies. To help you out we have put together some pointers that will help you hire the best in the business.
Tip #1: Do it All Through One Source
When it comes to knowing how to hire a flooring company, the first thing you should know is whether they are providing you everything that you need. You shouldn’t buy flooring from one place and look for another company to install it. An efficient company helps you pick out the right flooring for your rental property and installs it.
Tip #2: Know Your Contractor
Before you hire a flooring company you need to make sure you do proper research. Here are a few things to ask about:
- Are they licensed?
- How long have they been in business?
- Do they have customer testimonials? Are there previous customers you can talk to?
- Do they have a history of providing quality work on time and budget?
- What kind of insurance do they carry?
- Are their workers in-house or subcontractors?
- Will a project manager be available on-site for you to talk to?
- How much would the job cost?
- Can they itemize each part of the installation? (get this breakout in writing)
- How long would the job take?
- What do you, the owner, need to do to prepare for installation day?
Tip #3: Ask about Professional Associations
If you’re getting hardwoods, confirm the contractor is a member of the National Wood Flooring Association. You want to work with flooring contractors that follow guidelines provided by NWFA. When you find a company willing to be a member of NWFA and follow their guidelines, you can be assured that your flooring is in good hands.
There are other associations your contractor may be a part of as well. A few are ICFIA, FCICA and INSTALL. Some are bigger than others, but just having a contractor that has joined one is a good thing.
Tip #4: Pay Attention to Customer service
A great company should take good care of you from the first time you talk to them onward. Once you’ve done your research and selected a few companies to talk to, pay attention to how they treat you on the phone. If they’re polite and eager to help, set up the appointment to get a quote. If not, move on to the next company.
Tip #5: Ask about a Satisfaction Guarantee
Make sure the flooring company you hire offers a guarantee or warranty on the work. Flooring isn’t a cheap investment, so getting that guarantee in writing is a great way to protect yourself from a big loss in case something happens.
Note that the flooring itself should also have some kind of manufacturer’s warranty. Ask the flooring company about that as well.
Tip #6: Knowledge is Power
If you have a few basic questions for your flooring company and they can’t answer right away, that’s a red flag. Even though the first person you talk to may not know everything, they should be able to answer most of your questions readily.
Conclusion
Knowing how to hire a flooring company for rental property is just like any other skill- the first 1-2 times, it’s not easy. But as you do it for more and more rental properties, you get used to the process. Before you know it, you’ll be a pro and will have the best companies on speed dial! And since you’re using property management software (we assume,) you’ll be able to easily schedule them to come out at the best time for you and your tenants.