Kitchen Remodelers Near You: How to Choose the Right One

As you start to explore the potential of a kitchen makeover, you might find yourself blindly searching for “kitchen remodelers near me.” But you have minimal concept for what you’re really looking for in a remodeler or what constitutes a good one.

Redoing your kitchen is a massive opportunity to impact the overall feel and appearance of your home. Don’t enter the project lightly or pick the first remodeler that comes up in search results. Instead, spend some time building a list of what you want from your remodel and how a professional can help you get there.

How to Find the Best Kitchen Remodelers Near You

Mastery Cabinetry, based in Orlando, Florida, has helped countless homeowners achieve their ideal kitchen. We’ve seen processes that work incredibly well and some where there were missing steps or times when the homeowner just wanted to skip ahead to start living in their dream kitchen. And from those many experiences, we bring you this guide to finding the right remodeler for the job.

1. Define Your Goals and Budget

Some kitchen remodelers might be better at certain aesthetics than others. Or they might have better teams for building in quality storage designs to make the optimal organized kitchen. 

Perhaps you’re looking for unique detailing and craftsmanship in your cabinets. That requires specialized tools and expertise that not every remodeler has. 

During your goals session, you should define the following:

2. Ask Friends and Family for Referrals

The best place to start with finding a good team to help with anything in your home is to ask those in your network. Perhaps they’ve recently remodeled a kitchen or they know someone who has. This gives you a chance to gather real-life experiences that you know you can trust. 

Try to get your acquaintances to be specific about what they liked about the company. Maybe it was precision, customer service, or the ability to pull off the exact look they wanted for the kitchen.

But if they didn’t think the experience was the best, dig into that a little as well. Learn what went wrong and whether it was a misalignment of goals or truly a professional who wasn’t good at their job.

This should help you build a shortlist of professionals in your area who can do the job.

3. Comb Through Online Reviews Carefully

After talking with friends and family, you should have a list of professionals who you know are vetted to some extent. But if not, you can begin building your short list of professionals using online reviews.

But as you read reviews, know that you’re likely hearing from the people who had an especially outstanding experience or those who experienced something that went wrong or they explained their needs poorly.

Try to read the four-star reviews for the most realistic and balanced reviews of the company where the customer truly balances the pros and cons of working with the remodeler.

Each homeowner will have his or her own facets of the remodel that they care most about. So whether you want seamless communication or the edgiest designs, read the reviews for those specific things that matter most to you.

Know that one bad review doesn’t necessarily mean the professional is bad. Instead, it might just mean that the homeowner had unrealistic expectations for the project or poorly communicated their vision.

You want to see a good balance of reviews so you can tell they weren’t just paid for to help increase the company’s reputation. And while you’re at it, look at a variety of review platforms, such as Google and the Better Business Bureau. Some remodelers might be listed on trade association websites, which is another good place to look.

4. Look for Credentials

Quality kitchen remodelers put the needs and protections of their customers at the forefront. That means carrying an appropriate amount of insurance, including general liability and workers’ compensation. This helps protect homeowners when workers are on their property. 

Ensure that your team has the right trade credentials to show their competence in the space. Being a part of NKBA or NARI can show that your chosen professional has both experience and know-how with kitchen remodels. 

5. Ask for Photos of Completed Work

When asking for references and portfolios of work, try to get the company to give you examples specific to the type of kitchen you want. This will help you compare how well the company executes on the concepts you’re looking to include in your kitchen. 

Ask if they have before-and-after images for a kitchen that features a similar layout as yours. Then talk to past customers. Discuss with those past customers:

More than likely, the company has already vetted the references and knows what they’ll say. So try to dig deeper and ask questions like:

6. Get Multiple Quotes

Meet with multiple remodelers. While this takes extra time, it is time well spent in protecting your project from massive surprises. Ask for your quotes to be itemized so you can compare labor and material costs from one contractor to the next.

While meeting with them, ask questions about how they handle delays, whether they use subcontractors and if they complete structural alterations to a home. Structural alterations could require that they bring in third parties, and you want to know how they vet those third parties.

7. Check Quotes for Major Red Flags

If you get a quote that is massively under the others, this should be a red flag for you. This probably means that the company is cutting corners in some way.

Even if a quote is in the ballpark financially with others, you should be leery of it if it is vague or lacks clarity around insurance or licensing. 

A company that is unwilling to provide references should also serve as a red flag to you. High pressure sales or requiring more than 50% of the project cost up front is also concerning.

8. Only Work With Companies with Contracts

Handshake deals for something as large and as important as your kitchen are a bad idea. Instead, make sure you’re entering a legally binding contract that states what is expected of you and what is expected of your kitchen remodeler. The contract should detail:

Why Mastery Cabinetry is Your Ideal Kitchen Remodeler

If you’re looking for a kitchen remodeler in Orlando, Florida, Mastery Cabinetry is your partner in executing the kitchen of your dreams. The company is BBB accredited and offers an experience you won’t find elsewhere. Our manufacturing facility, where we custom-build kitchen cabinets, prevents delays by keeping the whole process in-house. We’ll work with you to create functional designs that match your lifestyle. Get started now to begin the journey toward your dream kitchen.

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