So you’ve found the metal carport that you want, but the rub is that it doesn’t come pre-assembled. When it was delivered, all you saw were boxes of parts and pieces, and a thick instruction manual. I don’t know about you, but I remember that day vividly.

The task seemed really daunting. I am definitely not handy with the tools, but I knew I could follow the instruction manual by the letter. The other thing was finding enough time to actually put the carport together. I work some pretty crazy hours, so I would have either one day to put it all together, or devote about one hour per day for a week to put it together. But there was another option I was considering, and that was hiring a contractor to do it for me. That way it could be up in a short amount of time, and I wouldn’t have to worry about if I put it together correctly.

The contractor option sounded the best, but I wasn’t really sure where to start. I mean, most of the contractors I had dealt with in the past were either crooks that didn’t get the job done and charged me a lot of money or ones that quit in the middle of the project. I couldn’t let that happen this time around.

The first thing I did was ask my friends for referrals. I figured this would be the fastest way to get a great referral and cut down on the search process. I called each of my friends, explained my project, and asked if they knew anyone they thought would have the skills and know how to complete it. I got two great referrals from it.

The second thing I did was do a Google search to find local contractors in my area. I quickly found out that most contractors in my area don’t have websites. So I headed to Yelp (it’s a service review website) and did a search there. I found about three contractors who were in my area with five star ratings. So I called each one and set up initial consultations with each one.

In the end, I decided to go with one of my friends referrals. He was easy to get along with, straight-forward on the costs of the project, and was within my budget. The other contractors were also great, but they were outside of my budget. And I knew I didn’t want a DIY project and put the metal carport installation kit together myself. So in the end it cost me around $200 to have it put together in about 2 days. That’s a job well done if you ask me.

If you’re interested, these are two of the best selling carport kits available currently.