Many contractors make bids to local planning agencies as being selected is high profile and profitable. As planners are accountable to elected officials and therefore the public, they need to be familiar with the contractors who will do quality work, while staying under budget. This means that the people that work in this office probably know the local contractors better than most other folks you could find.

If you need help selecting someone to do work on your home or business, the people who work for a local planning agency are excellent people to ask for a recommendation. They may or may not be able to give you an official recommendation, but they should be able to tell you who can do the best work at a fair price.

Even if your local planning staff doesn’t offer up a recommendation, you can still figure out who they would have picked. The contractors selected and paid to work on local projects are most likely a matter of public record. If your local municipality thought a contractor was good enough for the public library, they should probably do a good job on your home as well.