Wednesday, April 9, 2008

WHAT WOULD YOU DO..?


OK... You hired a Contractor for your Home Improvement project and had a pretty good feeling about him. The project started off on track and it move along smoothly. You've made several payments based on positive work progress and you're feeling confident in trusting that you're not gonna get screwed by this guy. Your project is about 75% complete and your Contractor comes to you and says that he has to put the project on hold for "just a week" while he waits for a pre-ordered material arrives. He states that he has already placed the order and needs a pre-payment to cover the expense.

The story seems reasonable, so you hesitantly hand your "trustworthy" contractor an unscheduled payment of $10,000.00. 5 or 6 days go by and you haven't heard anything from him, but it hasn't been a week yet. You go ahead and call just to coordinate his return to the project and he replies: "I had a family emergency and will have to postpone another week.". He reassures you that he will contact you in a few days with an update and to set up the day.

You begin to feel a little uneasy about the situation, but think to yourself that; "He hasn't done anything to make me not trust him.", and convince yourself it'll be fine. 4 more days go by and you have yet to hear from him, but you are uncomfortable calling him to push as the "Family Emergency" may be worse than he lead on, so you give it a few more days.

You've now been living in shambles for 3 weeks! He hasn't called and you can't seem to get him on the phone. You've made several attempts, but he hasn't even made an effort to call you back. You now realize that you have just been taken for $10,000.00 and it won't be easy to get it back! You Home Improvement project is incomplete and you had around $20,000.00 left on your existing contract. You assume that you can simply hire a different guy to finish the work and the worst case you are out only $10,000.00.

That's IF you can get another Contractor out willing to pick up where he left off for the same price! You get a few estimates from other contractors that all come in between $35,000.00 - $40,000.00!

Then it hits you! The Contractor you hired under-bid the job to ensure he got the contract! It's gonna cost you $20,000.00 more than you have and you don't have any recourse to get the original contractor back on the job, or to get your money back from him.

What do you do?

This is a typical scenario that unsuspecting homeowners become victims of a Contractor Con! Be aware that the best Con starts with a trusting relationship! NEVER deviate from the agreed upon terms of your Contract. Don't ever hire a contractor who is willing to do the job without a formal Construction Agreement or if he offers to perform the work without permits to "save you the property tax increase". Stick to the payments schedule and do NOT accept ANY excuses to make early payments. I don't care if he says his child was just killed in a car accident. Don't trust a single word your contractor says until the job is complete and the Inspections are approved.

GOOD LUCK!