How Can You Choose The Best MEP Contractor?

MEP is the abbreviation for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing facilities that are the backbone of any construction activity. Be it building a house or an office or simply laying sewage pipes, MEP engineers are crucial. 

From decision-making to cost estimation, construction administration, documentation, building management, and building maintenance, an MEP contractor does it all. However, not every contractor is trustworthy, and hence, this business witnesses a lot of suspicious clients. Therefore, we bring to you some ways you can contact a good MEP contracting company in Dubai.

Realistic Quotations

While looking for an MEP contractor, the first and foremost task should be to ask for quotations from at least 4 contractors.  A quotation is a legal document describing what a seller provides to a buyer to offer goods or services at a stated price under specified conditions. 4 is the ideal number of contractors you should ask the quotations from, though the number may go up. Now, there are chances that all four prices will be quoted in a way that one of them is unrealistically low, two of the average quotations will linger around similar costs and one of them shall charge you exorbitantly high. This will help you calculate an approximate cost for the contractor. 

You are advised not to take services from the one charging you unrealistically low. Extremely low prices are a guarantee for poor work and constant headaches. To keep the cost low and yet incur profit, the contractor has two options. The first one is to hire labor with inefficient skills. No professional will be hired making the outcome of the work unpleasant. The second way would be to ask for money now and then. The contractor asking a huge amount should be paid heed to only after you have done a cost-benefit analysis. Maybe they are charging high because they have some new technology. However, to be in the safest zone, go with either of the two contractors asking for similar prices.

Google Review

The panacea for choosing a good MEP contracting company in Dubai is to check the google reviews of a particular business. Listing on Google is the first sign that the company either has significant experience or enough resources in the MEP industry. Both of them are win-win situations in their way. Experience in the industry means the company knows how to do the job nicely. Having resources is an indication of the fact that the company, even if new, is serious about making its mark in the MEP market.

Google provides the facility to provide reviews for a wide array of goods and services listed on it. From movies to MEP contractors, people tend to write reviews about those goods and services which they either liked well enough to spare time to write about them or disliked much. In either case, reviews will have a sense of extremism or bias. You are lucky enough if you find a review that is holistic in approach and speaks good as well as bad about the business. However, in most cases that will not be the case. Hence, it is advised to not judge the work of a business based on one or two reviews. See the time frame first of all. The reviews should be recent. Then read at least 10 reviews and see if the ratio of 7:3 is met or not. 7 positive reviews, as opposed to 3 negative reviews, is an indication that the contractor can be hired.

Technical Test

To be best assured that the contractor knows his work, you can take a test of his skills. Unlike law and business administration, no degree or certificate course can tell you how skilled and educated your contractor is. However, you have the right to ask him about his experience. A minimum experience of 3 years in the field is a good enough parameter to ascertain the skills of the work. If you wish to be a little more sure, you can ask him certain technical questions to know if he knows his work. For example, you may ask him what should be the mortar ration in tile installation. The answer to the question is 1:4. Another question can be about pressure in the pressure pump of the bathroom if the tank is situated on the second floor. The answer to this question should be 2.5 to 3.5 kgs.

Negotiation

Most contractors are open to negotiations. However, there has to be a limit or cap to this negotiation. A 10% price reduction is a green flag. Say, the contractor quoted 2 lakh dirhams for a work. If he agrees to bring it down by 20 thousand dirhams to 1.8 lakhs, it is alright. However, if he agrees to do the job for just 1 lakh dirhams after initially quoting 2 lakhs, you must sense something fishy.

A high value for negotiation means that the contractor somehow just wishes to get the job. Initially, you may be happy about hiring an MEP contractor for half the price of the quotation, but over time you will realize that you have pet a headache for yourself. There are chances that the contractor will abandon you mid-way. This can be quite horrible as getting a new contractor to work on a base built by another means you will have to pay double the amount. If he does not abandon you, he will use poor-quality raw materials. At best, he may overcharge you for different commodities not included in the 1 lakh package.

Conclusion

Once you have had these conversations with your contractor either in his office or over the telephone, do not skip on visiting the hardware stores. Suppose, you want a plumber to fix the sanitary ware in your bathroom. Visit the sanitary ware store of your MEP contractor to know what quality material they will be using. It will give you a sense of security that your hard-earned money is invested in good quality products that will last long. After all, construction activities do not happen now and then. They should be one-time investments.