No general contractor can be in business for any length of time without angering a customer or two. A wise man once said that you can’t please everyone all of the time. That said, if you were looking to hire someone, you would be equally wise to make sure there is not a plethora of complaints against that person or company. One or two complaints is one thing, especially if they are minor. A pattern of complaints is quite another thing, especially if they are major issues that could speak to the company’s integrity and trustworthiness. Being ignorant of these issues is inexcusable in today’s age of information. Here’s how you can check for complaints.The Better Business BureauA lot of companies like to promote the fact that they belong to the Better Business Bureau. This is nothing to brag about, however. Any company can pay for that honor. While membership in their club may not mean much, the BBB does give customers a place where they can make public complaints about how they were treated. When it comes to checking for complaints against a general contractor, there are few better places to start. Go to the section on companies in your area, enter the name you want to research, and their search engine will direct you to any relevant complaints.Consumer ProtectionEvery state has a department concerned with consumer protection and consumer affairs. You won’t get any less biased a source of information than them, so make sure you make them a stop on your search for complaints against a general contractor. Not everyone thinks to contact the government when they have issues with work they had done, so don’t treat this as the end all, be all of resources, but it always helps to be thorough. Many state governments have all of this information online, so you can go to their website and follow the directions to get what you need. If they don’t have it online, they should have a Contact Us link you can follow.Online ReviewsThere was a time not long ago when it would have been much more difficult to find out what people in your community thought of a particular general contractor. Today, however, online review sites have become very popular. Because of this, a cursory search can easily turn up reviews from people just like you. Look through the most trafficked sites and see if any information comes up about the companies in your area. People don’t hesitate to shout when they’ve been wronged, so you should be able to find some dissenting voices.

Article Tags:
General Contractor, Complaints Against

------------

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Finding the right general contractor for your next project is easier than ever. Find the right guy for the job by checking the reviews at http://www.angieslist.com.