Hiring a remodeling contractor can quite intimidating. After all, sometimes it can seem like there are as many options out there and any contractors do a really poor job of describing there work, often using technical terms that only an engineer may understand.

And there are plenty of horror stories about renovations gone bad. Can there be anything worse than throwing money away to a poor contractor?

So the multi-thousand dollar question is: “how does one sort through everything in order to find the perfect fit for your project? ”

Here are three great tips to help.

 #1. Really do your homework

Good renovation contractors don’t hang outside of Home Depot with a sign that says, “pick me, I’m the best.” Nor do you find the best renovation contractor by sending out a few details and wait for the lowest quote… Bad move.

In order to find a good contractor, there is no substitute for other people’s experience. And this doesn’t mean necessarily going on Yelp or another review site and read up on who has the best reviews there.

Instead, call up a few contractors, meet with them, and see if you and the contractor are on the same wavelength. Does the contractor only want to spend 10 minutes with you? Move on.

After describing your renovation, ask to see their portfolio book with the closest renovation to yours.

But first of course, know what you want. As baseball great Yogi Berra said, “You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going because you might not get there.”

Once you know what you want and have reviewed their profile, ask for the names and phone numbers of several people who have had similar renovations.

Once you have obtained the names and phone numbers, call them and see how good a job the contractor really did. You may be surprised, either good or bad, and what you hear.

And if the company won’t provide you with previous references. Move on.

 #2. Obtain 3 realistic quotes.

Note, we said realistic because many contractors will nickel and dime you to death.

Generally, the quotes should be within one or two thousand dollars of each other, and if a company comes in at a higher quote challenge them on it and ask for precise details on why their quote is higher than the others.

There are renovation companies that do terrific service, one example would be Ristrutturazioni Roma, but if one company has been in business for years and the other company has been in business for only one or two it just makes sense to go with the experienced company to do your renovation.