6 Crucial Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Construction Vendor
If you’re preparing to hire a construction vendor, you want to make certain you’re working with the best. You often rely on these vendors for more than basic concrete forms or other raw materials. You may need large or special orders, or perhaps new products to get the job done.
If your vendors can’t quickly meet your needs, it can lead to significant delays in your project or even lost contracts. That’s why it’s important that you know the crucial questions to ask before you hire a construction vendor.
“Have You Worked with Similar Businesses?”
If you typically build large-scale projects, green homes, or smart homes, you may have some unique needs that more general construction teams don’t have like concrete form rental. It’s important to know that the vendor understands your needs and can meet them. It’s also reassuring to learn that they’ve worked with people in your area and won’t have any trouble making deliveries to construction sites in the locations you serve.
“Do You Have a Large Inventory of Products On-Hand?”
Another important thing to know is the vendor’s on-hand stock. If you need a few dozen concrete forms, will they be able to get them to you quickly, or will they have to ship them cross-country? While some large or unique orders may need some extra delivery time, a good construction vendor should have common materials on-hand at any given moment.
“Is Overnight Shipping an Option?”
If you need something right away, will they ship it to you overnight? If something is at the local warehouse, you should be able to get it the next day, but if it’s not, the vendor needs to offer expedited shipping options. If they can’t, you might want to look at other options.
“How Do You Package Materials?”
You also want to make certain that any products shipped or delivered to your job site are securely packaged. Construction materials often have to spend days outside exposed to the elements. For some materials, that doesn’t matter. For some, though, too much exposure to the elements can ruin the product.
Safety is also a concern. Products should be securely packaged so that they don’t shift, fall, or roll into areas where someone might trip over them. They also need to be wrapped to protect them from rain, snow, and ice.
“How Can We Reach You?”
What’s the fastest way to get in contact with your material vendors? Sometimes, you don’t have the time during the day to make a lot of calls, especially if a project is behind schedule. Does the vendor respond to email quickly? Or do they prefer text messages?
Having a documented trail – be it emails or texts – is often helpful in record keeping or if an order goes awry. If they don’t do email, can you get someone on the phone when you call? Will that person be able to answer your questions, or will they have to relay a message to someone?
“Is Your Payment Processing Secure?”
In today’s world of cyber-criminals and hacking, you want to be sure you’re working with a company that has a secure payment portal. They should make use of encryption and other security features for online payments, and any data they collect should be stored in a secure server.
Let Us Serve as Your Vendor for Concrete Forms and Other Supplies
If you’re searching for a vendor for concrete forms and other shoring equipment, we can meet those needs and more. We offer a wide variety of different forming and shoring products and equipment for sale and for rent. Contact us today to learn more about what we can do for you.