Did you know that hiring a qualified contractor is one of the most important parts of starting a new home project? A trustworthy professional with a good reputation and experience can make a major difference. But which questions are the most important to ask during the interview process, and how do you evaluate the quality of an answer?

1. How long have you been in business?
2. How local is your business?
3. Who owns your business, and for how long have they owned it?
4. What jobs do you have that I can go see?
5. Who, exactly, will be installing my roof?
6. Can I visit a project they are working on right now, and see them in action?
7. How will you remove any materials that are torn off of my roof?
8. What past customers can I talk to?
9. When would you be able to schedule my job?
10. How long will my project take?
11. Do you have General Liability Insurance?
12. Can I get a certificate of insurance in my name?
13. Is a building permit required for my project and, if so, will you be pulling one?
14. What steps do you take for the safety of your workers?
15. What steps do you take to ensure the safety of my home and my family?
16. How is payment handled? ​

After this first set of questions, the rubber needs to meet the road. Assuming you received acceptable answers to your original questions, you now need to ask very specific questions about how they will handle your project.