It doesn’t matter what type of renovation you’re planning—you must ask a few essential questions to the contractor you hire. Otherwise, you may wind up with a contractor who’s better at talking than they are at improving your home! Read on to learn a few important questions to ask when hiring a general contractor. Can You Provide References? One of the best things you can do to confirm whether a contractor is as good as they say is to check with their past clients. Get a list of references from your contractor and ask them about every aspect of the process. How was the contractor with communication and deadlines? Was the final product everything you hoped for? Just because one person had a good experience doesn’t mean everyone did—check with two or three past clients to get a good sense of your contractor’s past work. What’s Your Estimated Timeline? Getting a timeline from the contractor is essential for two reasons. For one thing, you want to know when your life will be back to normal! Renovations can take a long time, so a timeline will help you plan out your life in the interim. If you have a deadline in mind, tell the contractor at the start. They should be able to let you know whether it’s realistic or not. This is also an important question because not every contractor will provide the same timeline. If one contractor gives you an unrealistic estimate, you’ll know something is off. Do You Provide a Warranty? Good general contractors in Lake County will guarantee their work, typically with some form of warranty. This will protect you in the event that something goes wrong with the renovation within a certain time frame. If a contractor is unwilling to provide a warranty while others are, that gives you a good sense of the confidence they have in their work. Now that you know these i mportant questions to ask when hiring a general contractor,  you can have more productive conversations and set your home up for a successful renovation.