How to Choose a Sealcoating Contractor?

How to Choose a Sealcoating Contractor

Asphalt sealcoating is a highly demanded service for property owners all over the world. The ability to prevent your driveway or parking lot from cracking, chemicals, and weather elements make sealcoating a must-do task.

Many contractors offer sealcoating services. However, hardly all of them are created equal. If you choose the wrong contractor, and they do a bad job applying the sealcoat, you may face asphalt repaving in the nearest future.

While it may take a while to select the best contractor for your needs, once you do, you can have peace of mind about the quality. Let’s take a closer look at choosing a sealcoating contractor.

1. Reviews

When choosing a contractor for your sealcoating project, pay special attention to online reviews. If a company has less than 6 reviews, consider avoiding it unless you get a personal recommendation from the person you trust.

Take the time to study each review on such available online sources as Yelp, Angie’s List, or Google. You can gain useful knowledge from each review. Just make sure you pick a company with recent reviews. If nobody has left any reviews for months, it should raise a red flag.

When checking reviews, remember that clients are more prone to leave bad reviews than good ones. When everything is in order, property owners rarely go online to write a review. So if you see several good reviews, it means that services are likely to be exceptional.

2. Proximity

When searching for a sealcoating contractor, you are likely to get a significant list of available options. Consider choosing the company, which is closest to your location. Local sealcoating contractors are much easier to work with than out-of-city or out-of-state companies.

According to Tampa experts from CSG Sealcoating, with local contractors, it’s easier to find recommendations, check the portfolio, and deal with problems in case they arise.

3. Website

While only about 64% of businesses have a website, it’s the first place a person visits to learn about the company. A respectable sealcoating contractor knows how important it is to maintain an appealing website with detailed information about the business.

If you check and find out that the company you are considering doesn’t have a website, look at other candidates. Companies that don’t maintain informational websites demonstrate their ignorance of the way the 21st-century world works and fail to meet customer expectations. 

4. Discuss Details and Timeline

When you narrow your choice down to several companies, you can call each one to discuss details. Respectable sealcoating contractors are always straightforward about their prices, credentials, equipment, teams, and more.

You need to give the company details about your sealcoating project and listen to what they have to say. If the company is ready to do the job whenever you are, it’s a good sign. If a contractor is busy with other projects, you may want to look for other options.

Sometimes, it may make sense to wait for the best sealcoating contractor in town to find time for you. However, in the majority of cases, you can find more than one suitable candidate. If you wait too long to apply a sealcoat, your asphalt may get damaged, leading to formidable expenses.

5. Experience

While new companies on the market can have stellar and experienced teams, it’s always better to opt for contractors who have been in business for a while. Check how long the company has been dealing with asphalt sealcoating before hiring.

When it comes to sealcoating, experience matters. A couple of simple mistakes could render the protection useless. Meanwhile, you’ll never know that something went wrong until your asphalt starts deteriorating.

The Takeaway

Finding the right sealcoating contractor is the key to keeping your asphalt safe. Poorly applied sealcoat doesn’t protect your driveway or parking lot, thus causing deterioration to spread quickly.

A respectable contractor should have several years of experience, an informative website, and at least six online reviews. Try to find a local company to simplify communications.

The time you invest in searching for the right contractor right now can help you avoid expensive problems in the future.