Essentially, when you need something in your home repaired, like a leaky faucet or broken furnace, you are letting a stranger into your house. While he most likely won’t arrive at your door wielding a chainsaw like someone from a horror movie, or in a jumpsuit straight from the penitentiary, you still have to be leery about who you’re letting in to your home. Along with quality and reliability, Mark Wethington, owner of B&J Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning Inc., provides his customers with the assurance of their safety as well.
It’s unsettling to think about, but there have been scary stories about homeowners who were hurt by the people they let in their home, explains Wethington. It’s important to be a wise consumer and protect yourself and your family from possible intruders. Wethington shares the practices he follows with his company, and urges that you ask contractors in your area these same questions before you schedule an appointment with them.
Do they conduct background checks? Legally, companies can hire people on prison release without having to disclose that information to you. And, many companies hire individuals without knowing any information about them. Ask if the company does a background check and if they do, ask them what the qualifications are for someone being hired into their company. If you feel timid about posing such forward questions, ask yourself how you would feel if you knew that while you were out running errands, someone who was convicted of theft three times was fixing the pipes in your master bathroom.
What is the company’s drug policy? A step towards safety is making sure that the people doing repairs and installations in your home are not impaired by drugs and other substances. Some states don’t require drug testing by law, but any well-established company should have their own program in place, explains Wethington. Ask the business owner if his company does pre-hiring drug testing as well as random drug testing, and how often.
How will their employees arrive to your home? To be sure that you are not letting the wrong individual into your home, ask how you can expect the specialists to arrive. Will they be in a company truck, or in their own car and street clothes? At his company, Wethington says that all his technicians arrive at clients’ homes in a clearly marked truck and wearing company uniforms.
How will you be notified of changes? Typically, service providers who come to your home give you a large window of time for when you can expect their arrival. Ask the business owner how his company handles situations where technicians are knowingly running behind schedule. Wethington explains that a company who values your business should call you if they are going to be later then their scheduled time. This way you aren’t left sitting around waiting for hours, and you can rearrange your schedule accordingly.
Additionally, ask about any other policies that the company has. Do they have a no swearing policy? Do their employees wear shoe covers in your home to prevent from tracking dirt through your rooms? All of these extra steps that are taken impact the name and integrity of the business.
