"Third Step: Bathroom Remodeling" is the Third of a series of articles to help home owners know more about the process of remodeling a bathroom.

Now that the work explained in "Second Step: Bathroom Remodeling" has been completed, you can move on to the next or Third step of the process, "Third Step: Bathroom Remodeling". Now, that your permits were issued by the local city or county authorities and you have them in your hand, it is time to start looking for a professional General Contractor to do the required construction work.

But, first let me explain who a professional General contractor is. A professional general contractor is a fully licensed General contractor who has been in business for at least five years. He must be licensed by CSLB or Contractors State License Board and his/her license must have an active status. You can verify this information by visiting the CSLB website at http://www.cslb.ca.gov/ in the "consumers" section and searching either by the name or license number of the general contractor. The general contractor must hold an active "B" license which is issued by CSLB to allow the contractor do General construction work.

Once the General Contractor status and license are verified to your satisfaction, you should interview the contractor to make sure that he/she has completed many similar projects such as yours in the last five years that he/she has been in business and ask for recent references. At this time it is also time to find out if the General contractor has Worker's compensation and Liability insurances. It is very important for a general contractor to have these insurances to protect you, the client. The worker's Compensation Insurance protects you against any injuries to the worker's of the General Contractor and the Liability insurance protects you against any damages to your house or to anyone else during the construction phase. These two insurances are very important and you should turn away from any contractor that does not carry these two insurances. You can ask any contractor for a certificate attesting to the fact that they are fully insured. Some of this information can also be found on the CSLB website I provided.

Now, that you know the process of how to checkup, validate and interview a General contractor, you can start talking to three General contractors to receive estimates for your project. Do not interview more than three General contractors and certainly not less than two. Pick the one you are most comfortable with and ask them to provide you with a bid for labor and rough material only (remember you will purchase the finishing material per the previous articles). This way you can better compare bids and estimates because the scope of work will be the same for all of the general contractors in your list.

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