How Do You Actually Know If a Contractor Is Legit?
A lot of contractor hiring in South Africa still starts with a forwarded WhatsApp number.
“Use this guy. He did work for my neighbour.”
You send a message, explain the problem and a contractor comes around to have a look. By that evening there’s a quote on your phone and, if the timing works, he can start next week.
At some point you have to decide whether you trust the person enough to pay them.
A logo on WhatsApp won’t answer that. Neither will a nice bakkie or twenty photos of finished bathrooms.
There are a few things worth checking before you EFT anything.
Check who you’re dealing with
Start with the details the contractor has given you.
If they say they trade through a company, get the company name. The quote should also tell you who is doing the work and give you usable contact details.
Sometimes a business trades under a different name from the registered company. That happens. What you want is a sensible explanation when the names don’t match.
The bank account deserves the same attention.
If you’ve been dealing with one company and suddenly receive banking details for an unrelated name, ask about it before paying. There may be a straightforward reason. Finding out afterwards is a much worse time to have that conversation.
Then have a proper look at the work they’re showing you.
Contractors usually have plenty of job photos on their phones. Pick one that’s similar to what you need and ask about it.
Take a bathroom renovation as an example. Did they strip the whole bathroom? Was the plumbing moved? Who did the tiling? How long were they on site?
That sort of conversation is more useful than asking, “Do you have experience with bathrooms?” because almost anyone can answer yes to that.
If it’s a sizeable job, ask whether there’s a previous customer you can speak to. You don’t need to phone references before every small repair around the house. Spending R100 000 on a renovation deserves a bit more checking than replacing a toilet mechanism.
Online reviews can help too, especially when people describe the work that was done rather than leaving a vague five-star rating. Search the business name and see what turns up. Old posts, recent jobs and the way the business responds to customers can fill in some of the gaps.
None of this takes particularly long.
The quote is where I’d spend a bit more time.
Imagine somebody has quoted R55 000 to redo your bathroom and the entire description says:
Bathroom renovation - labour and material included.
You still don’t know much about the job.
Are they stripping the old tiles? Is waterproofing included? Who is buying the new tiles and fittings? Does the price cover rubble removal? What happens to the walls once everything has been taken out?
You shouldn’t need trade knowledge to understand the answer.
If the contractor has priced a proper job, they should be able to explain what they’re planning to do in plain language.
That clarity also helps you check whether the contractor has actually understood what you asked for. A beautiful quote for the wrong job is still the wrong quote.
The deposit is where it becomes real
Deposits are normal on many jobs. Contractors need to buy materials and sometimes order items before they can start.
Look at the amount in the context of the work.
If a contractor needs to order tiles, fittings and other material for your project, an upfront payment can make sense. If most of the job value needs to be paid before anything arrives at your house, ask how the payment was worked out and what happens next.
Larger jobs can also have payments linked to progress. Whatever arrangement you agree to, keep it somewhere you can both refer back to. A clear WhatsApp conversation is better than trying to remember a phone call from three weeks ago.
The way someone has dealt with you up to this point matters as well.
Contractors work on sites. Things run late. Traffic is traffic. A supplier can send the wrong item and ruin a carefully planned afternoon.
One late appointment tells you very little.
Repeated missed appointments, disappearing for days and promises that never quite happen tell you more.
You’ll see the same thing in the way questions are handled. If you ask who will be doing the electrical work in a renovation, you should get an answer. The contractor may use somebody else for that part, which is completely normal. You just want to know who is responsible for the work happening in your home.
There is no single test that guarantees you’ll never have a problem with a contractor. Even good jobs can have snags and delays.
What you can avoid is handing over a large deposit when you still don’t really know who you’re paying, what they’ve agreed to do or whether the work they’ve shown you is actually theirs.
DadBod Contractors verifies contractors before they enter the platform, which gives homeowners a better starting point than a cellphone number forwarded around a neighbourhood group. You should still check the quote and ask the questions that matter for your own job.
If the answers make sense, great. If they don’t, keep the money in your account until they do.
