Type “general contractors in Redmond” into your phone and you get a long list, every one of them with a nice logo and a five-star something. That list tells you who paid for a listing, not who should be in your house for the next four months. Here is how a homeowner in Washington actually vets a general contractor for a remodel, step by step, and what to expect if the firm you are talking to works as a design-build company.
Start with the Washington L&I lookup
Every contractor in Washington has to be registered with the state Department of Labor & Industries. L&I runs a free public tool called Verify a Contractor. Ask for the contractor’s license number before anything else and look it up. Ours is HIGGACL847M1, and it is printed at the bottom of every page on this site for exactly this reason.
The lookup shows you whether the registration is active, whether the required surety bond and liability insurance are on file, and whether there are infractions or lawsuits filed against the bond. A contractor who hesitates to give you a license number, or whose number comes back expired or suspended, has answered your question.
Insurance beyond the registration
The state minimums are a floor. For a remodel, ask for a current certificate of insurance showing general liability coverage, and confirm the company carries workers’ compensation for its crew. Ask how subcontractors are covered, because electricians, plumbers and other trades will be on your property too. If someone is hurt on your job and the contractor is not covered, the claim can land on your homeowner’s policy.
References and finished work
Ask for two or three recent projects similar in size to yours, and actually call the homeowners. Keep the questions practical: Did the schedule hold? How were changes handled and priced? Was the site left clean each day? Would they hire the same company again? Then look at the finished work. A portfolio with photos of completed kitchens, bathrooms and additions, with the city named, tells you more than any brochure. Reviews on Google and the Better Business Bureau are worth reading too, with attention to how the company responds when something went wrong.
A written scope, not a number on a napkin
A verbal price is not a bid. Before you sign anything, you should have a written scope that lists what is included, what is excluded, which finish items carry allowances and for how much, who is pulling the permit, and the schedule. It should also say how changes are handled. Every remodel has them, and the honest answer is a written change order with a price before the work happens, not a surprise on the final invoice.
The payment schedule
The single biggest red flag in residential remodeling is a request for a large payment before any work is done. A reasonable schedule looks like this: a deposit to reserve your spot on the calendar, payments tied to real milestones as the project moves, and a final balance due after you have walked the finished work and approved it.
As an example of how that looks in practice, our own design-build process collects a 10 percent deposit to place you on the schedule, takes the next payments when the final scope and cost proposal is approved, and then sends incremental invoices as construction is completed. We do not consider a job finished until you approve it.
Permits
Any remodel that moves walls, changes plumbing or electrical, or touches structure needs a permit from your city, whether that is Redmond, Bellevue, Kirkland, Sammamish or Issaquah. The contractor should pull the permit in the company’s name and schedule the inspections. If anyone suggests skipping the permit to save time or money, walk away. Unpermitted work surfaces when you sell the house, when you file an insurance claim, or when the next contractor opens a wall.
What a design-build process looks like
Many remodeling contractors build from plans someone else drew. A design-build company does both under one roof, so one team is accountable for the drawings, the price and the construction. At Higgason Homes, that team includes engineers, designers and builders, and the process runs in a set order:
- In-home project assessment. Goals, style, priorities, budget and timeline, plus photos and measurements of the existing space.
- Preliminary proposals. A construction proposal with pricing and a payment schedule, and a cabinetry proposal based on layout and style.
- Design. Concept boards, floor plan, electrical plan, elevations and renderings, then cabinetry details and the finish selections: materials, colors, hardware, lighting and plumbing fixtures.
- Final scope and cost proposal. The complete budget, updated for the finished design, before construction is scheduled.
- Construction. Purchasing, coordinating trades and subcontractors, installation and finish work, managed by your Project Manager.
- Final walkthrough. Professional cleaning, and your approval before the job is called done.
The advantage for a homeowner is that the price and the design are settled together, by the same people who will build it. When the design changes, the price changes in the same conversation, and nobody is pointing at a drawing someone else made.
Questions to ask on the first call
- What is your L&I license number, and who holds the bond and insurance?
- Who will be my single point of contact during construction?
- Who pulls the permit, and in whose name?
- How are change orders priced and approved?
- Can I see two recent projects like mine and talk to those homeowners?
- What does your payment schedule look like, and what is due before work starts?
A good contractor will have ready answers to all six. If the answers are vague, keep looking.
Where to start
Higgason Construction is a licensed and bonded design-build general contractor based in Redmond and serving Sammamish, Bellevue, Kirkland, Issaquah, Mercer Island, and Newcastle, led by Shannon Higgason with more than 20 years in residential construction. You can learn more about Higgason Homes on our homepage, and if the project on your list is a kitchen, our kitchen remodeling services page covers what a remodel with us includes along with our published pricing ranges. Call (425) 577-8512 to schedule a free in-home consultation.
Planning more than one room? Our whole-home remodeling in Redmond page covers phasing, permits, and living through construction.
Read more about our design-build process, or see everything we do locally on our Redmond remodeling page.