12 Questions to Ask a Contractor Before You Sign
The most useful questions aren't about price. Ask about capacity and crew.
Then cover exclusions and what happens when something goes wrong, because those four things decide how your project goes.
Below are the twelve we'd ask, in order, along with what a real answer sounds like. Some answers should make you slow down.
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Print this or keep it open on your phone. Ask every contractor the same twelve questions.
Take notes, and the comparison will be much clearer at the end.
1. Who is actually on my job?
The person selling the job often isn't the person building it. That's normal in a healthy company.
Finding out in week three isn't.
A good answer names people. A lead carpenter who will be there most days, a project manager you can reach, and a clear statement of how often the owner is on site.
A weak answer is a promise that the crew will take good care of you, with no names and no structure. Ask a second time and see if it gets more specific.
2. How many jobs are running right now?
This is the single best predictor of your finish date. Almost nobody asks it.
A good answer is a number, with context. Two active sites and one crew is a company that will be on your job most days. Six active sites and one crew is a company that will visit your job.
A weak answer deflects into how busy they are, as though it were a credential. Being busy is a good sign about their reputation and a bad sign about your schedule, and you need to know which side of that you are on.
3. What will you subcontract, and to whom?
Nearly every general contractor subs out plumbing and electrical. Many also sub out drywall, tile, flooring and painting.
That's fine.
A good answer names the trades they use regularly and says how long they have worked together. Long standing relationships mean the subs show up, because the contractor is a repeat customer worth keeping.
A weak answer is "whoever is available." That is a company assembling a crew per job, and coordination problems are how schedules die.
Ask who the plumber and electrician are. Both hold state licenses you can verify through the Maine Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation.
4. What is not included in this price?
Ask it exactly this way. The word "not" does more work here than any other word on the twelve-question list.
A good answer is a list, delivered without hesitation, because they have written it down already. Permits, dumpster, temporary heat, painting, flooring, appliance installation, landscaping repair, and anything structural found after demolition are the usual suspects.
A weak answer is "everything's included." Nothing is everything, and a contractor who says so has either not priced it properly or is planning to tell you about the exclusions later, in the form of a change order.
Reading the exclusions in the written document takes care. We cover it in how to read a contractor's estimate.
5. What could change this number after we start?
You're asking contractors to predict their own bad news. That's why the answer reveals so much.
A good answer is specific to your house. Rot under a bathroom floor, an undersized panel, a stack in the wrong place, a foundation that will need attention once the siding is off. Somebody naming those has done this in a house like yours.
A weak answer is "nothing, we've got it covered." On any renovation of an older Maine home that is not confidence, it is inexperience or a sales pitch, and both cost you the same.
6. What does the schedule actually look like?
Skip "when can you start." Start dates are easy to promise. They're also the wrong question.
A good answer covers the start, the sequence, the realistic finish, and the gaps. Every project has waiting: on materials, on inspections, on a sub. A builder who tells you where the dead weeks are is telling you the truth.
A weak answer is a single duration with no phases in it. "About eight weeks" is a hope. "Demolition the first week, rough-in the second and third, inspection, then finishes" is a plan.
Ask what happens if they start, then leave for another job. Get the answer in writing if you can.
7. How do change orders get priced?
Change orders kill budgets. The mechanics matter more than the concept.
A good answer describes a written document with a price and your signature on it, before the work happens. Ask whether their markup on a change is a percentage and what percentage.
A weak answer is "we'll settle up at the end." That is you signing a blank cheque and hoping the number is reasonable, and by the time you see it the work is already in your house.
Put the change order process in the contract. Maine contract law requires the contract to address it, so it should already be there.
8. What is the payment schedule?
A good answer is a deposit inside the legal cap, then draws tied to work being completed. Foundation done, frame and roof done, rough-in inspections passed, final on punch list complete.
A weak answer is dates on a calendar rather than milestones, or a large lump up front. In Maine the initial deposit on a home construction contract is capped at one third of the price by state law, and a request past that is a fact worth knowing rather than an opinion to weigh. There is more on the rule on Maine's one third deposit law.
Ask the amount of the final payment and when it releases. You want a holdback at the end.
It needs to be large enough to matter.
9. Can I get a certificate from your agent?
Notice the wording. Don't ask whether they have insurance, because everyone says yes.
A good answer is "sure, I'll have my agent send it." That takes them one email and a builder who carries real coverage does it without friction.
A weak answer is a photograph of a certificate, a policy number read aloud, or a delay. You want general liability and workers' compensation, sent by the agent, naming your project address, with the dates readable.
Sole proprietors without employees are often exempt from workers' compensation in Maine, under 39-A MRS §401. That's legal.
Ask directly, because it changes what happens if someone is hurt on your property. The full picture is on contractor insurance in Maine.
10. Who pulls the permits?
A good answer is that they pull the building permit, and the licensed plumber and electrician pull theirs. That is how it normally works and it puts the responsibility where it belongs.
A weak answer is a suggestion that you pull the permit yourself to save money or time. That makes you the permit holder and moves the liability for the work onto you, and no reputable builder asks for it.
Ask your town's code office what your project needs. Every Maine town sets its own rules, and those rules change what each quote should contain.
11. Three references from the last year?
Give a specific timeframe. Anyone can produce a delighted customer from six years ago.
A good answer is three names on jobs like yours, offered without a fuss, ideally including one that had a problem.
A weak answer is one reference, or a list of names with no phone numbers, or a stall. When you call, ask what went wrong and how it got handled, and ask whether the final number matched the contract. Those two questions get you past the pleasantries faster than anything else.
12. What worries you about my project?
This is our favourite question. Nobody expects it.
A good answer is honest and slightly uncomfortable. The access is tight, the timeline is optimistic for that lead time, the budget is going to be difficult at that spec, the second floor bathroom is above a finished ceiling and that is a risk.
A weak answer is "nothing, it's straightforward." Your project is not straightforward. Somebody who says it is has either not looked at it properly or has decided that agreeing with you is the fastest route to a signature.
Over the years, this one answer has told us more about a contractor than anything else.
What should you do with the answers?
Ask all twelve questions of all three contractors. Write down the answers while they're fresh.
The comparison will sort itself. One contractor will name people and subs, along with risks and exclusions.
Another will be pleasant but vague. We think that gap matters more than the price difference, yet you won't see it by comparing totals alone.
If two contractors are close, return with the answers that differed. Ask each about the other's version.
You'll soon know who understood your project.
Frequently asked questions about vetting a contractor
Is it rude to ask all twelve of these? No, and a good contractor is relieved. These are the questions that prevent the arguments they hate having. The ones who bristle at being asked are telling you something useful for free.
When should I ask them? Most at the site visit, before anybody writes a quote. Save the payment schedule and change order questions for when you have the written proposal in front of you, so you can ask about specifics rather than in the abstract.
What if a contractor will not answer one of them? Ask once more, plainly. If it is still vague on the second attempt, that is the answer. The most common one to get evasion on is question 2, the number of active jobs.
Do I need to ask all three contractors the same questions? Yes. Same questions and same written scope, or you are comparing three different projects and three different conversations.
Which question matters most? Question 5, what could change the number. It is the one where experience shows up and the one that predicts your actual final cost better than the quoted total does.
Should I record the conversation? Notes are enough, and less awkward. What matters is that anything you both agreed to ends up in the written contract, because that document is what governs, not the conversation.
Where do you find contractors worth asking?
The twelve questions work best when all three contractors have already cleared a basic bar. We handle that part.
Tell us what you're building and where you are in Maine. We'll match you with three contractors suited to the trade and town.
You still ask all twelve questions. Our job is to make sure the answers deserve your time.
More on hiring: the full arc of hiring a Maine builder · reading the estimate they hand you