How to Choose a Residential Builder in Metro Detroit

Hiring the wrong contractor is one of the most expensive mistakes a homeowner can make. A bad builder can drain your budget, destroy your timeline, leave you with substandard work, and in the worst cases, disappear mid-project with your money. Metro Detroit has thousands of contractors — some excellent, some mediocre, and some you want to avoid at all costs.

Here is how to tell the difference, based on 30 years of experience in the trades.

Start With Licensing

In Michigan, residential builders and contractors are required to hold a builder's license issued by the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA). This is not optional and it is not a technicality — it is the law. A licensed builder has passed a competency examination covering building codes, construction practices, and business management. They are registered with the state and subject to oversight.

You can verify any contractor's license at the LARA website. If they are not listed, they are not licensed, and you should not hire them regardless of how good their price looks. An unlicensed contractor cannot pull permits legally, which means your project either goes unpermitted (creating problems when you sell) or they are asking you to pull the permit as a homeowner — which shifts liability and responsibility onto you.

Verify Insurance

A legitimate contractor carries two types of insurance: general liability and workers compensation.

General liability insurance protects you if the contractor damages your property during the project. If a plumber floods your basement, if a framing crew drops a beam through your floor, if a painter spills a five-gallon bucket on your hardwood — general liability covers the repair. Without it, you are suing the contractor personally and hoping they have assets worth pursuing.

Workers compensation insurance covers the contractor's employees if they are injured on your property. This is critically important. If an uninsured worker falls off a ladder at your house and breaks their back, guess who they may come after for medical bills? You. Your homeowner's insurance may deny the claim because you hired an uninsured contractor. Workers comp protects everyone.

Ask for a certificate of insurance and verify it directly with the insurance company. Any contractor who hesitates to provide proof of insurance is either uninsured or carrying the bare minimum. Either way, that tells you something about how they run their business.

Get Multiple Estimates — But Do Not Just Pick the Cheapest One

You should get at least three written estimates for any significant project. But here is where most homeowners go wrong: they compare only the bottom-line number and pick the lowest one. This is how you end up with the wrong contractor.

A meaningful estimate comparison requires looking at what is included. Is the estimate a single lump-sum number, or does it break down labor, materials, and phases? Does it specify the materials being used — the brand and grade of cabinets, the thickness and type of countertop, the exact flooring product? Does it include permit costs, dumpster fees, and cleanup? Does it address how change orders will be handled?

The cheapest estimate is often cheap because it is leaving things out. The contractor is either using lower-quality materials than the other bids, not including items that the other contractors have accounted for, or underbidding the job to win it with the plan to make it up through change orders once the project is underway.

A significantly lower bid — 20 percent or more below the others — is a red flag, not a bargain.

Check References and Past Work

Any contractor worth hiring can provide references from recent clients. Call them. Ask specific questions about the experience, not just whether they were satisfied overall. How was communication during the project? Did the crew show up when they said they would? Was the job site kept clean and organized? Were there any surprises or issues, and how were they handled? Would you hire them again?

Better yet, ask to see a completed project in person. Walk through a kitchen the contractor remodeled or a home they built. Look at the quality of the finish work — how the trim meets the walls, how the tile is laid, how the paint looks up close, how the cabinets are aligned. The details tell the story.

Red Flags to Watch For

After decades in this industry, certain behaviors reliably predict problems. Here are the ones that should make you walk away.

They want a large deposit upfront. It is reasonable for a contractor to ask for a deposit to order materials — typically 10 to 20 percent of the project cost, or the actual cost of materials that need to be pre-ordered. A contractor who wants 50 percent upfront before any work begins is either undercapitalized (meaning they need your money to finish someone else's project) or positioning themselves to take your money and underdeliver.

They will not put it in writing. Verbal agreements are worth the paper they are printed on. Every aspect of the project — scope, materials, timeline, payment schedule, change order process, warranty — should be in a written contract signed by both parties. A contractor who resists putting things in writing is protecting their ability to change the terms later.

They pressure you to decide immediately. "This price is only good today" is a sales tactic, not a legitimate business practice. Material prices do change, but they do not change overnight. A contractor who pressures you into a same-day decision does not want you to get competing bids or think too carefully about what they are offering.

They are always available immediately. A good contractor is busy. If someone can start your kitchen remodel tomorrow, ask yourself why their schedule is wide open. It could be a slow period, but it could also mean they do not have repeat clients — which means past clients were not satisfied enough to hire them again or refer others.

They badmouth other contractors. Professionals do not need to tear down the competition. If a contractor spends more time telling you why the other guys are terrible than explaining why they are good, that is a character tell.

Questions to Ask Before Signing a Contract

Before you commit, make sure you have clear answers to these questions.

• Who will be on-site managing the project day to day? Will I be dealing with the owner or a project manager?
• What is the realistic start date and completion date? What happens if the project runs past the estimated completion date?
• How will we communicate during the project? How frequently will I receive updates?
• What is the payment schedule? Is it tied to milestones or calendar dates?
• How are change orders handled? If I want to change something mid-project, what is the process and how will it affect cost and timeline?
• What warranty do you provide on your work? How long does it last? What does it cover?
• Do you pull permits and schedule inspections, or is that my responsibility?
• What happens if we discover unexpected problems during demolition (water damage, wiring issues, structural problems)?

The contractor's answers — and their willingness to answer at all — will tell you a great deal about how the project will go.

How Pro-Time Services Does It

At Pro-Time Services, owner Eric Jones is your single point of contact from the first phone call through the final walkthrough. We provide detailed written estimates that break down every phase, material, and cost. We carry full insurance, maintain our Michigan builder's license, pull all permits, and schedule all inspections. We do not ask for oversized deposits, we do not pressure same-day decisions, and we put everything in writing.

We earn your business by doing good work, communicating clearly, and finishing on time. That is the same approach that has built our reputation across Wayne, Macomb, and Oakland Counties.

Learn more about our approach or contact us to discuss your project.