Would you hire a contractor working out of his home?

Yes

I just realized a flaw in my survey. Do you mean yes you would consider hiring him or yes you would turn around and look for another contractor?

It wouldn't matter. Considering a private office could cost thousands per month to lease, it would be hard to expect a one-man show to have his own office.

Check the BBB. Look for online references. Ask for references.

Yes, most contractors will be self-employed and if they have office space at home, then it obviously makes sense for them to work from there.

Sure. Low overhead means a lower quote. Seems like a waste of money to have an office when, if he's doing his job properly, he spends all of his time at job sites.

I have no problem with using someone working from home......... having said that if I am paying out $40,000 you better believe I am gonna do "due diligence" on the guy...... look at past jobs, Does he have all his licences and accreditation etc etc

Who cares? A contractor doesn't need to have a regular office if they sub everything out.

When I worked at Hughes Aircraft Company at an Air Force manufacturing plant we had a regular general contractor who bid and did work there all the time for projects $500,000 and up. His office was in his house.

So, it matters nothing where a contractor's office is - especially for residential work.

It wouldn't matter to me.

However, for $40K I would be ONLY hiring a contractor with a reference from somebody I know and I trust.

Whats wrong with that? Lots of people work frm their homes.

I would have no problem with this. I would be more interested in seeing references.

Yes, I would hire him

depends on what type of recommendations i have on him

As long as they have some excellent reviews on Angie's List, I'd be unconcerned about where they worked from.

That would be the least of my concerns. Provided that the contractor had all the necessary licenses and insurance and good references, I would go ahead with them.

I would assume that most contractors work out of their home. What would be the purpose of renting office space? The important thing would be to check out his/her references.

I wouldn't have a problem with it if they came recommended to me by someone I trusted. I probably wouldn't hire any contractor without a recommendation of some kind, though.

Every contractor I know works out of their home.