When the Earth is hurting due to an oil spill, water contamination, agricultural waste, or any other environmental hazard, who are you going to call? Why, an environmental remediation contractor of course! Whether it’s cleaning up groundwater contamination due to run off, groundwater pollution, industrial wastewater treatment, or you need a variety of other environmental remediation services performed, environmental remediation contractors are there to clean up the mess, take care of the Earth, and keep people healthy. Although you not be as familiar with professional environmental remediation contractors as much as home remodeling contractors, their job is no less important and often times is more important!

Environmental remediation contractors perform essential environmental clean up and care services that help to restore health and balance after chemical or waste damage. This can be caused by a number of reasons on both large and small scales. A common example of a large scale environmental emergency would be an oil spill in the ocean and popular example of a smaller scale environmental emergency that would require the services of an environmental remediation contractor would be a septic tank malfunction that leads to ground water contamination. The aftermath of both of these incidences can have dire consequences to the surrounding environment and wildlife as well as the health of the public, so it’s important to call an environmental contractor for help right away.

Although the scope of their work might be a lot different than that performed by traditional home service contractors, the process of choosing an environmental contractor is similar to finding an electrician, plumber, or general contractor. Here are a few tips you should keep in mind to make the process easier and faster.

The more bids, the merrier

It’s common for people to get second, third, or fourth opinions when they go to the doctor, and the same idea can be applied to getting multiple contractor bids for the same service. Although it might seem like a lot of work at first and you may question whether it’s worth it, putting the time in to get several different bids can actually be a huge money saver in the end. Getting more than one bid allows you to determine whether or not you’re getting quality work performed at a fair price. A bid that’s too low may indicate shoddy work and a bid that’s too high could indicate a rip off. The only way to determine this is to have something to compare it to, so make sure to put the time and effort into getting multiple bids.

Just ask!

When shopping around for the right environmental contractor, it’s important not to be afraid to ask the right questions, especially when it comes to verifying the status of their professional state licenses and insurance. Remember, hiring someone that isn’t a professional to perform environmental work can land you in trouble as well, so it’s important to verify all of their necessary legal paperwork is order. It’s also important to ask for a recent list of customers of recent testimonial so you can see if other customers were satisfied with the quality of work performed.

Establish a timeline

This goes along with the point made above about asking questions. Feel free to ask about an estimated timeline at the very beginning in order to prevent a project that continues to drag on and on. You may also want to ask who will be onsite everyday, as well as for the contact information of the project manager. Being involved and staying involved in the environmental remediation project ensure it stays on track and can also offer you some peace of mind.