Having been the construction bus. for the past 20 years I'll give you my perspective. With more people refinancing cash out for additions there has been an influx of contractors. Many of these contractors would never be in business under more typical conditions and a lot of them Most of them rely on corrections from the inspector as guidelines on how to perform their work and most homeowners dont know quality outside of the finish. I can tell you most qualified contractors I know are backlogged 7-9 months. Prior to entering into contract look at how long they have been in business, how long they have had a contractors license and most of all check references, cant stress that enough. When checking references ask about schedule completion, correction notices from inspecting agencies and quality from people in the know.