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Hiring on the corridor: the home-services field guide
How to hire well out here — roofers after hail, foundation and irrigation in clay country, landscape and interior trades — written as a hiring method, not a pay-to-play directory.
Why this page is a method, not a list
Directory sites sell their rankings; this site doesn't take placements, so what's durable here is the method — the corridor-specific things to verify for each trade. Roofing (the big one): after every hail event a wave of storm-chasing crews sweeps the county. The filter: a physical local address and history you can verify, a certificate of insurance sent directly from their carrier, no assignment-of-benefits contracts, and patience — the insurer's adjuster scope comes first, the signed contract second. Never pay large deposits for materials on a storm job. Foundation: this is expansive-clay country; seasonal hairline movement is normal and "foundation repair" salesmen know it. Sequence: independent structural engineer's assessment (a few hundred dollars, no repair incentive) before any repair company's free inspection. Irrigation and landscape: licensed irrigators are a state license you can verify; ask specifically about drip conversion and rain/freeze sensors — the water bills in the utility guide reward it.
The universal five-step hire
For any trade — landscape design, interior work, fencing, pools: (1) three bids, scoped identically in writing; (2) license check where the trade is licensed (electrical, plumbing, HVAC, irrigation are; general contracting in Texas famously isn't — which raises the bar on the next steps); (3) insurance certificate from the carrier, not a PDF from the contractor; (4) local references from jobs at least two summers old (this climate stress-tests work — one August tells the truth about an irrigation install, one hail season about a roof); (5) progress payments tied to milestones, never large upfront sums. New-build owners: your builder warranty's one-year list and the inspection guide's punch-list habits carry into year one — document everything before the warranty walkthrough.
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