What happened last time. Previous contractor experiences are documented as gold because a bad one doesn't just leave a story — it creates the buying criteria this appointment will be judged by, silently, unless you ask. The homeowner who was burned on labor coverage will weigh your warranty differently forever, and you'd never know why if you didn't ask what happened.
The short answer
What happened? — with previous contractors, previous projects, previous repairs. Who else have you talked to? — the other conversations shaping this one. What are you comparing? — the standard in their head, which may be a neighbor's project or a number from five years ago. What have you heard? — about companies, products, the process itself. Each answer either hands you a criterion to satisfy or a concern to surface, and both are better in discovery than at the close.
How it runs
The trap is defensiveness: the homeowner starts the bad-contractor story and the rep interrupts to explain that we're different, we've been in business for… — answering a concern that hasn't been stated yet, with a claim instead of curiosity. The documented response is a follow-up: what happened? The story, fully heard, tells you exactly what proof this homeowner needs — and concerns understood early become presentation material, while concerns defended early become objections later.
Concerns often arrive disguised as questions, too — a pointed question about scheduling or warranty is frequently a scar talking. Note it the same way.
Every guide on this page is a round you can run in Fight Camp — $29/month for the full camp, Round 1 free. Spar before you knock.