Keeping Your Home Safe When Hiring Outside Contractors

If there is a job you need need done in your home, there is most likely someone you can hire to do it. Many projects including electrical work, roofing, cleaning and lawn care require an outside contractor to have access to your home. Sometimes this access is during hours that you are not home. If you’re lucky, the person working on your home is someone you know and trust, but realistically this is not always the case. Often times you have to give complete strangers total access to your home. This can be problematic if you do not handle the situation properly. However, there are several measures you can take to ensure the safety of your home and possessions.

 

1.  Research, Research, Research

It is important that you know as much as possible about the company or the individual that you are hiring. Go to their website, call their office, and most importantly; read customer reviews. Websites like yelp.com provide reviews from real customers and could give you great insight into the company you are considering. Another great way to learn more about the company is to simply Google them. This will cover any news articles they have been mentioned in recently and even some mentions through social media.

 

2. Recommendations

Chances are one of your friends or neighbors has used a contractor for the same issue that you are having. Be sure to check with them and see who they recommend. People that have proven to be trustworthy in the past are more likely to do so again in the future.

 

3. Access Codes

Home security systems allow you to set multiple access codes so you can give the contractor a temporary code that can be removed when they have completed their work.  Also, if you have the open and close reporting feature, you will know when the contractor’s code was used to arm and/or disarm the system.

 

4. Security Cameras

Security cameras can be installed that monitor both the interior and the exterior of your home at all times. Most of these systems can be accessed remotely so you have constant access to a visual of what is going on within your home.