If you are considering hiring a professional fencing or roofing contractor, there are a few questions you’ll want to ask before you begin. Here are the top five questions to ask your contractor:

1) Ask if a deposit is required – Reputable fence and deck builders will never ask a customer for a deposit to start work. A decent contractor should have the financial ability to purchase materials in advance and the confidence to deliver the final project in order to be paid for the work when it is finished.

2) Ask About Insurance and Licensing: Hiring a “handyman” to build a fence or deck may cost a little less at first, but there are several risks involved if you don’t have the proper license or insurance. If someone is injured during construction, for example, you may be liable through your homeowners insurance. Fence builders generally do not need to obtain building permits, but roof builders often do, so this will often be a problem for unlicensed roofing contractors. Professional fencing and roofing contractors will always have the proper insurance and the proper local business licenses.

3) Ask about additional charges – Sometimes you will receive a “quote” from a fencing or roofing company instead of a “quote.” Often times, a contractor will add additional charges along the way that may or may not be confirmed with the owner first. If you’ve already committed to the project with a particular fencing or roofing company, it can be more difficult to dispute any additional charges down the road. Fence and roof projects generally have minimal or no cost changes along the way, so be sure to receive a written price “quote” that will represent the final bill for the project as described.

4) Ask your deck or fence builder if they use screws or nails – While most wood fence contractors and wood decking contractors these days only use screws in their construction, some companies still use nails! Using nails is faster than screwing, but of course it is fairly common knowledge these days that nails will fail much earlier than screws in the same applications. Proper fence and deck builders will never consider the use of nails. You will want to make sure you hire a company that uses only exterior screws that are approved for use in the material being used (usually pressure-treated wood).

5) Ask about a guarantee: A reputable builder should offer a guarantee on the workmanship of the finished project. The material warranty, if applicable, must also be passed on to the homeowner and will vary in terms and duration. The workmanship warranty must be at least two years to allow full exposure to all four seasons a couple of times; This will expose any workmanship issues that need to be addressed. Also consider that a warranty for work performed is only valuable if the company remains in business; a guarantee from a very small company is generally worth much less than a guarantee from a larger, reputable company.