How to Choose a Kitchen Remodeler in Vancouver, WA

Choosing a kitchen remodeler is mostly a process of elimination. A few checks take minutes and remove the companies you should not hire at any price. The slower checks, such as visiting finished work and reading a written scope, tell you which of the remaining companies fits your project. Work through the steps in the order below and you will spend your time on the candidates that deserve it.

The vetting sequence at a glance

Step 1: confirm registration before anything else

Washington does not license general contractors by examination. It registers them. L&I states plainly that the state "does not require contractors to pass a competency or skills test to become registered", although it does test and license electricians and plumbers. Registration therefore tells you a company is legal and has a bond and insurance on file. It does not tell you the company is good at kitchens. That is what the later steps are for.

Under RCW 18.27.020 it is illegal to advertise, bid or work as a contractor without being registered, and RCW 18.27.080 bars an unregistered contractor from suing to collect payment. L&I adds that unregistered contractors "carry no bond or insurance to protect consumers". Ask for the registration number, which the law requires on advertising, and look it up yourself. Our guide to verifying a contractor in Washington walks through the lookup and what each field means.

Step 2: check insurance and workers' comp

The same Verify record shows the contractor's insurance policy and whether the business has "an active and paid-to-date workers' comp account covering any employees". The statutory insurance minimums in RCW 18.27.050 are $50,000 for property damage, $100,000 for injury to one person and $200,000 for injury to more than one person. Those minimums are low next to the value of a house, so ask what limits the company actually carries and request a certificate sent directly by its insurer.

Workers' comp matters to you personally. L&I warns homeowners that "if an employer does not have an active workers' comp account, you could be held liable if a worker is injured on your property." The page on contractor insurance, bonds and workers' comp explains what each one covers and what it does not.

Step 3: look for kitchens like yours

A portfolio proves a company can finish a kitchen. What you need to know is whether it has finished one like yours. Match on three things:

• Scope. Replacing cabinets in the same layout is a different job from moving a sink, opening a wall or relocating a range. Ask to see projects at your level of change.
• House age. An older home near downtown brings plaster, older wiring and possible lead paint and asbestos. A newer home brings engineered floor systems and builder-grade layouts. Experience in one does not guarantee skill in the other.
• Finish level. Custom cabinetry, stone slab backsplashes and panel-ready appliances need tighter tolerances than a standard installation.

Look past the wide photos. Close views of cabinet reveals, scribed panels at walls, tile corners and how the countertop meets the backsplash show the standard of work. JDI's kitchen project gallery is one example of what to ask any company for: finished rooms shown in enough detail to judge.

Step 4: use references and reviews for what photos cannot show

Photos show the result. References tell you how the weeks in between went. Ask each past client the same short set of questions so you can compare answers:

• Did the final price match the contract, and if not, were the changes written up and priced before the work was done?
• Did the crew show up when the schedule said they would?
• Who did you talk to when something went wrong, and how fast did they respond?
• How was the house kept during the job: dust, floor protection, daily cleanup?
• Has anything needed fixing since, and did the company come back?

Read reviews from kitchen clients the same way. A detailed account of a problem that was handled well tells you more than a row of five-star ratings with no text. The Verify record adds a harder data point, because L&I says it shows citations and "lawsuits against their bond".

Step 5: find out who designs the kitchen

Someone has to turn your wish list into dimensioned drawings, a cabinet order and a set of plans the permit office will accept. Ask who that person is, whether they work for the company, and what you will hold in your hands before you sign: a floor plan, elevations, a 3D view, a specification list. Whether design sits inside the building company or with a separate designer changes who is responsible when a drawing and a wall do not agree. Our comparison of design-build, general contractor and kitchen designer sets out the trade-offs.

Step 6: find out who manages the job

The person who sells the project is often not the person who runs it. Ask for the name of the project manager or lead, how often they are on site, and how you will get updates. Good answers are specific: a named contact, a regular update rhythm, a single place where the schedule and decisions are recorded. Vague answers here predict vague communication later. For a full script, see the questions to ask a kitchen contractor.

Step 7: read the warranty and the written scope

A workmanship warranty should be written, state its length, and say what it covers and how to make a claim. Product warranties from cabinet, countertop and appliance makers are separate. L&I's advice is to compare "the warranties offered" between bids and to be wary of a contractor who offers "exceptionally long warranties", since a promise is only as good as the company's ability to be around to keep it. How long a company has been registered, which Verify also shows, is a fair proxy.

The scope is the other half. An itemized scope names the cabinets, counters, fixtures and finishes, lists what is excluded, and states the price including sales tax. If two finalists are close, compare their estimates line by line before you decide.

How JDI measures up on each point

You should run the same checks on us. JDI Construction holds Washington contractor registration #JDICOCN932KZ and Oregon CCB #176101; confirm the current bond, insurance policy and workers' comp status in Verify instead of taking our word for it. We are a family-owned company operating since 2007, with our office at 1419 Broadway Street in Vancouver. We are design-build, so the design and the construction come from one accountable team, and we handle permits and project management for the homeowner. Updates go through a client portal. Our workmanship warranty is written and runs five years. The first step is a free in-home consultation that leads to an itemized plan and a 3D design layout. You can read more about the company, see how we approach kitchen remodeling in Vancouver, or request a consultation and put these questions to us directly.