A qualified general contractor should be able to provide a ballpark estimate by seeing your home via a videoconferencing tool, the pros at South Land Remodeling in Los Angeles say on their online page listing tips for hiring a general contractor during the pandemic.

Limit the number of contractors you need to meet in person, and spend time reading comments and critiques on sites like Houzz to see what others have to say about their experiences, South Land says. That said, some potential projects need to be seen in person before an estimate can be made. “Anything that’s out of the ordinary, maybe a more complex project such as a building on a hillside, is hard to give an estimate without seeing,” South Land owner Oren Farkash says.

Now more than ever, it’s a good time to use Houzz ideabooks to share with designers and remodeling pros. Find out if the company you’re hiring uses Houzz Pro, which makes it easier to message and check your pro’s calendar for consultations. “We use Houzz Pro and we love it,” Robbins says. “We get a lot more questions through the email function about COVID protocols and it’s easy for us to reply that way, and we’re also asked about virtual consultations that way. It’s almost like a database for us.”