1. Don’t ask for insurance. Paying for insurance is expensive and once your top is in, you can’t see your contractor’s insurance policy at the top. If one of the workers is injured, you can sue him as the owner if the contractor cannot cover the claim. If the installer damages your home and disappears, there will be no insurance company to back you up. Covering these risks costs money, so don’t ask for a certificate of insurance.
2. Do not visit the store where your countertop will be built. Well-equipped, clean and efficient tents are expensive. The cheapest contractors work in garages, storage warehouses, or even manufacture right in your driveway where they don’t have to pay rent or expensive equipment to get the job done right.
3. Find out if your contractor has a landline for a phone number or works strictly from a cell phone. People who run an office and plan to stay long-term, like when they need warranty work, will have a permanent office and phone number. The tight-fisted will only have a cell phone that can be changed at any time and no office or location where you can find them when you need warranty work.
4. Don’t ask for references.
5. Do not approve the slabs that will actually be used in your project. The slabs will be different based on the lot number and when they were pulled. Getting slabs that match is expensive. Let the contractor find the cheapest slabs for you.
6. Pay for your slabs with the slab supplier. This will avoid the intermediary charges. It also means that the contractor is disconnected from the supplier for credit reasons, but what do you care if the contractor has credit problems? You will not have warranty problems.
7. Don’t ask what grade of granite you are getting. Premium and Commercial grade slabs, even if they have the same name, can be very different. Having blemish-free, uniform-colored countertops is expensive.
8. Don’t ask which way the grain will run on the slab or where the seams will be. Properly sewn countertops and countertops where the grain direction is properly planned are much more expensive.
9. Let the contractor choose the edge finish and wax the edges instead of polishing them. Polishing the edges requires expensive equipment and a lot of time. Waxing is inexpensive and cleans up so you can get the freshly cut dull natural look.
10. Make sure you get a “free” sink. Do not ask if it complies with the building code or who will take care of the warranty. Cheaper sinks don’t have the manufacturer’s name, so you can’t locate the manufacturer if the contractor goes missing. But it was free.

This article is, of course, written with the tongue firmly planted on the cheek. It’s hard to be a legitimate granite countertop manufacturer when there are suitors doing all of the above and more to create cheap countertops. You don’t want those countertops in your home!

Tom robinson

copyright 2012 T Robinson