By the hour or by the Job???

Never hire a professional contractor by the hour if you want good work done in a timely manner. Period. First, a decent contractor probably would not hire himself out by the hour in the first place. Secondly if you want the job done right you don't want to hire a contractor that would work by the hour as if he is a decent worker he will be selling himself short and if not you will be getting a shoddy job. A good contractor knows what his labour is worth and has calculated his time into his final bid. If it takes him longer than he expected he loses money but you don't. On the other hand if you pay him by the hour you are stuck paying for extra hours when something goes wrong. So paying by the job will be a motivation for the contractor to get done on time. A person who gets paid by the hour has a tendency to work slower but not better. They will drag their feet no doubt about it and the less your paying them the longer it will take for the job to get done. They will tend to make bigger mistakes that will possibly take more time to fix. What do they care? They don't mind doing it over ,it's more money in their pocket! Usually a contractor that works by the hour does not have a license where needed, insurance, or workers compensation. If he gets hurt and you are paying him by the hour you may be responsible for his injuries as a domestic employee. Ouch! A contractor willing to work by the hour ,especially for "cash" may not have the required work permits, citizenship or may not be of legal age to work.All of these can be expensive to fix as a homeowner. If he is willing to work by the hour he probably won't "need" a contract which we know is a #1 NO NO! Always have a contract. I suggest you always pay a contractor by the job NOT by the hour! Its just safer that way!