Preparing to sell your Preston, TX home means needing to evaluate what elements of the home could be sticking points for buyers. For instance, many homebuyers are getting FHA loans, and homes have to qualify for an FHA loan, so you might be scoping out the home for peeling paint and other FHA no-nos. One thing you’ll want to get fixed when possible is any broken windows or otherwise damaged screens and windows. How can you find someone to do this work who you can really trust? Here’s a tried-and-true method.
Start With Word of Mouth
Often, the people you know personally in your area will have had a window repaired at some point. Start with these recommendations: if they say stay away from a contractor, that’s important information, and if they wholeheartedly recommend someone, that contractor should absolutely be on your list for getting an estimate.
Use Trusted Review Sites
The reason to start with word of mouth is that once you move to impersonal review sites online, you never know just how connected the reviewers are to the company. They may be totally unbiased or they may be trying to help a buddy undo the damage of one honest bad review. Still, review sites can give you a lot of insight into what people’s experiences are. Now, if all the local contractors have some bad reviews, never fear: often, it’s the reasons for the bad reviews that will really stand out. Some reviews are clearly just a person who had unrealistic expectations venting about how they wanted something different for the amount they spent. Others are genuine communication breakdowns, swindling, or other red flags.
Look for Red Flags During the Quoting and Estimate Process
Once you’ve found 2-3 possible contractors with either strong word-of-mouth recommendations or good online reviews, have them evaluate the issue and give you an estimate. Walking with them to see the damage and understand their proposed solutions can tell you quite a lot. Many repair professionals may also offer window replacement, and in some cases, installation of replaced windows offers a good profit margin for the contractor. Beware a contractor who sees that you want to sell the home and opts to hard-sell windows to you instead of repairing them. It’s not a problem to offer replacement windows, especially if they can pinpoint why repair would be tricky and expensive anyway. But if they cannot respect your desire for repair instead of replacement, that’s a red flag.
You’ll also want to be seeing what you’re learning about professionalism: do they come early or late to the estimate, do they have to reschedule multiple times, are they forthcoming with their insurance information, and how detailed is the estimate paperwork? These questions and answers give you a glimpse into what it’ll be like to work with them. It’s pretty rare for deeply disorganized estimated experiences to turn into very organized contracted work, and vice versa. Let the experience teach you who will be your best window repair contractor when you’re working to sell your home. Don’t forget to leave a review yourself to help others in the future!