How does anyone find a contractor for a gut when they have no track record?

You pay more, yes, and you also get less schedule priority, which costs you more than the price difference does. I've got a job where the crew disappeared for nine days onto someone else's project and there was nothing I could do about it because I'm not the client who feeds them every quarter.

What actually got me taken seriously was paying draws same day, every time. Word travels between subs faster than any referral network. If you're reliably the person whose check clears on Friday you move up the list within a couple of jobs.

Smaller first is also real. A single bathroom and a kitchen with permits pulled teaches you which of your subs answer their phone.

Three routes people actually use. You subcontract directly instead of hiring a general contractor, which means you're coordinating the electrician, plumber, HVAC, drywall and finish trades yourself. That's cheaper and it's how a lot of first-timers get their scope done, but it means you're the schedule, and a missed handoff between drywall and paint is your two weeks of carry. Or you hire a general contractor and pay the coordination premium, commonly 10 to 20 percent on top of trade costs, in exchange for one throat to choke. Or you find an established investor locally and pay them a fee to project manage your first heavy job, which some will do because it costs them little.

On getting anyone to talk to you at all, the thing that works is being specific. A contractor who gets a call saying "I'm looking at a 1,400 square foot two-bed, the panel is 60 amp, I need it to a 200 amp service and a rewire, can you walk it Thursday and quote the electrical alone" gets a different response than someone asking about a whole house.

What quarry is describing about payment reliability is the actual entry fee, and it's cheaper than the price premium.

One piece to sort before your first job: verify licensing and insurance yourself rather than taking a certificate at face value. Licensing requirements for trades and for general contractors differ by state and sometimes by city, and an uninsured crew on your property is your exposure. Most states have a license lookup online. Use it every time, including on the second job.