I agree with you but I have slightly different way of working it.

1. Get referrals - ask around from architect and developers
2. Confirm referrals - prep questions and concerns and ask those who recommended him and visit 1-2 random sites of his for visual.
3. Find out the price - don't try to kill the price if it's high don't jump on it if it's low. Ask him to estimate a job that you already have contractors working at. So you can just give you a price to compare to what you paid.

I don't like to kill prices because my time is valuable and if this contractor is as good as he is he worth the amount which saves you alot of headache in the future.