How to Vet a Contractor Before You Sign Anything

Most owners approach contractor selection like a price comparison. They get three bids, they pick the lowest one that seems credible, and they sign. That process is how you end up with a contractor who wins work and builds margin through change orders, who doesn't actually understand your facility type, or who's stretched so thin on three other projects that yours gets staffed with whoever's available. Vetting a contractor properly requires asking different questions — and knowing what the answers mean.

Start with direct experience. Have you built this type of facility before, and how many times? Not "we've done commercial interiors" or "we've worked in healthcare." How many dental offices, how many veterinary clinics, how many daycare facilities — whatever you're building. A contractor who has completed ten dental offices has already solved the equipment coordination problems, the permit submission sequence, the plumbing rough-in requirements specific to a sterilization center. One who's done it twice is learning on your project. That's not disqualifying on its own, but you need to know which situation you're in, because the risk profiles are completely different.

Ask to speak with the last three completed clients in your facility type. Not references the contractor selects — their last three. This distinction matters. Contractors select references who will say good things. The last three completed clients are whoever they are. If the contractor hesitates on this request, or says those clients aren't available, or steers you toward a different list, that tells you something. A contractor who performed well wants you talking to recent clients. A contractor who performed poorly needs to manage which clients you reach.

When you speak with those references, don't just ask if they were happy with the outcome. Ask specifically about problems. Every construction project has them — material delays, coordination issues, subcontractor failures, inspection holds. The question isn't whether problems occurred. The question is how the contractor handled them. Did they communicate proactively, or did the owner find out about a problem after it had already caused a delay? Did they own the issue and fix it, or did they start assigning blame? The contractor who can give you references that describe problems honestly and explain how they were resolved is a contractor who builds trust through adversity, not just good conditions.

Permitting experience in your jurisdiction is a specific operational question that many owners skip. Ask: have you permitted in this city or county? How many times? Do you have an established relationship with the local building department? Permitting timelines vary enormously by jurisdiction. Some cities turn structural plans in three weeks. Others take five months. A contractor who knows your jurisdiction knows how to structure a submission to minimize revision cycles, knows which reviewers to expect, and can give you a realistic timeline before the project starts. One who's never permitted there is guessing on your timeline — and you'll be the one absorbing the delay.

Ask who your project manager will be — specifically by name — and ask whether that person will be managing your project from contract signing through certificate of occupancy. In many construction firms, the salesperson who closes the deal and the project manager who runs the work are different people. The salesperson knows your project inside and out. The project manager who inherits the file may not. And project managers turn over. If your PM changes mid-project, you lose accumulated context, established relationships with subs and inspectors, and continuity of decision-making. Ask for the PM to be named in the contract. Ask what happens to your project if that person leaves.

How the contractor handles change orders is one of the most revealing questions you can ask. Ask them to walk you through their change order process. How are changes identified, documented, and priced? What requires your approval before work proceeds versus what gets done and billed after? A contractor with a mature change order process has a clear written protocol and will explain it straightforwardly. A contractor who gets vague or says something like "we try to keep changes to a minimum" isn't answering the question. On a fixed-price contract with a well-defined scope, there should be few change orders. If the contractor you're evaluating expects many, they're telling you either their scope wasn't thorough or their estimating wasn't accurate — both of which are your problem to carry.

Ask about current backlog. How many projects is the firm managing right now? What is their field crew capacity? If a contractor has $40M in active projects and a production capacity of $35M, your project is going to get staffed with whoever is left. The most experienced superintendents are already on the other jobs. Your schedule gets protected in theory and eroded in practice. There's no magic number for how much backlog is too much — it depends on firm size. But the contractor who answers honestly and walks you through their capacity situation is one you can work with. The one who deflects or oversells their availability is signaling something different.

Ask what the longest delay was on a similar project, what caused it, and what was done to address it. A contractor who has delivered dozens of projects has had delays. Supply chain disruptions, inspection failures, subcontractor defaults — these happen. The answer to this question reveals how the contractor thinks about risk, communicates about setbacks, and protects clients when things go sideways. If the answer is "we haven't really had delays," that's either not true or the contractor hasn't done enough volume to have encountered real challenges. Neither is reassuring.

Vetting takes time. A few phone calls to references, an hour with the contractor asking direct questions, a review of their contract structure. That time is trivially small compared to the pain of signing with the wrong team and spending 18 months managing a project that's behind schedule, over budget, and full of disputes. The sophistication you bring to contractor selection determines a significant portion of the outcome before the first permit application is filed.

If you want to ask the hard questions and compare answers, primus-companies.com is a good place to start.