Feazel Roofing didn't win many friends when they sent out a mailing falsely telling recipients their roofs were defective and required a $49 roofing inspection. That was bad enough until someone in their organization posed as a customer and defended the company. Feazel has since apologized for the whole sordid mess. But beware of scare tactics like these from unethical contractors.
If you’re thinking about doing a home improvement project, beware of scam artists who are more than ready to take advantage of you. That is a scary number that calls for some added attention to who you hire. Remember to find and research your own licensed contractor. Don’t let a stranger knock on your door and give you his own ideas about what’s wrong with your house and how he can fix it, especially if the price does not seem right. Also, avoid contractors who will “take care of the details” such as financing. Most importantly, don’t allow yourself to be pressured into signing a contract that you aren’t 100 percent sure is legitimate. You are not wasting time by checking backgrounds and being cautious. Hiring with care will only help you accomplish your home improvement goals more quickly and efficiently.
Homeowners have no shortage of complaints about their contractors. But contractors have feelings, too, and according to this New York Times article, one belligerent homeowner drove the contractor to therapy. It's an often-overlooked issue—that homeowners can drive their contractors crazy with unreasonable, irrational and selfish demands, making them feel like "human punching bag[s]." If you are a contractor who is feeling abused, reading this collection of anecdotes may make you feel just a tiny bit better. And homeowners, please remember, contractors are human beings, too.
I stumbled across an interesting discussion on the Consumerist message boards. A man called a contractor to schedule an estimate for a project. The scheduler asked if his wife would be present and refused to come out unless she was there during the estimate. The homeowner was baffled why this would be necessary and theorized it was because the contractor wanted to make a high-pressure sales pitch and play the husband and wife off one another.
Sounded like a reasonable assumption to me until I read the responses. One of the posters pointed out some contractors do this to protect themselves. Since both the husband and the wife own the home, the contractor does not want to begin any work that the two don't agree upon. Another poster who owned a painting business did this because he would go out, do an estimate with just one homeowner present and then two days later the homeowner would cancel because his or her spouse did not agree with the work. He put the policy in place to avoid wasting his time.
I'm going to go with the latter argument. I believe the contractors are looking to protect themselves rather than introduce high-pressure sales tactics. But that's just me. What are your thoughts? Post your comment below.
To celebrate National Home Improvement Month, the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI), professional remodelers who voluntarily subscribe to a strict code of ethics, is offering homeowners three pieces of advice for planning their remodels.
Think your project through from start to finish. Careful planning allows you to achieve the remodel you want while keeping costs down.
Look over your property carefully. Homeowners should ask themselves what repairs or improvements should be made to their home.
Review your homeowner's insurance policy and make adjustments for the added value of the work being done.
NARI also recommends homeowners consult professional contractors for larger remodeling jobs. Homeowners considering a major remodeling job this spring can search NARI's web site to find a qualified professional who is a NARI member.
With the new year, you may be thinking of work you want to do around the house. If you're considering hiring a contractor, you'll want to find someone you feel comfortable trusting your home and savings to. Some contractors end up not being able to deliver on the agreed upon work. The worst of the bunch do shoddy work or don't finish the job at all. Here are some early warning signs that you may want to avoid the contractor you're considering.
1.) Few or suspicious references. Reliable, hard-working contractors earn a long list of satisfied customers. If your potential hire supplies you with just a few names or has trouble giving you contact information, it could indicate a shady history in the business. If it’s impossible to contact the person you want to interview or the person you reach has trouble recalling or articulating the work done by the company, you can tell the references aren’t checking out.
2.) Lack of work samples. Just as you want to hear testimonies from previous clients, you want to see former work samples that demonstrate the contractor’s work quality. Your potential hire should have past projects that he can show you. Some companies have work samples on their web sites, and others may be able to show you a portfolio in person. If your potential hire procrastinates or has trouble finding something to show you, it could be a signal to beware.
3.) No paper trail. The most important documents you will want to see are a work license and registration. Your potential hire should also have liability insurance and workers’ compensation. Without them, you may be liable for damages if any workers get hurt on the job. The paperwork trails continues with your contract. You need one. Period. It's also a wise idea to check records at the Better Business Bureau or local Consumer Protection Agency to be sure your potential hire doesn’t have a history of being sued.
4.) A bad day’s work. You often learn the most by observing the way your contractor approaches work on site. The contractor may give you a summary of what will be done on a given day or sequence of days. You may notice that initial goals don’t get finished on time due to a long list of “unavoidable” delays. One day or a week’s performance could be a good reflection of how the job will pan out in the long run. Other negative signs include the contractor repeatedly arriving late or taking excessive breaks.
5.) You get a gut feeling. Beyond the formalities, trust your own instinct. Isolated gestures or a string of suspicious actions early are critical signs that you should avoid a contractor. Perhaps the potential hire requests a large advance up front and in cash. Maybe the contractor does not have a legitimate business address or finds significant problems that weren’t included in the original estimate. Maybe it’s not something specific, just a bad feeling from something as simple as the fact that the contractor never looks you in the eye. You have every right to be selective about the company you choose to give your hard-earned dollars and access to your living space. Sometimes, finding someone you can trust depends on trusting your own sound judgment.
The slowdown in house sales may have hurt sellers, but there's finally some good news for homeowners. In a marked contrast to the boom days, the housing slump has lowered prices on "everything from lumber and drywall to labor and design fees" and made people in the building trade more available than ever, according to The Wall Street Journal Online. For instance, drywall is down 35 percent and framing lumber, which totals about 16 percent of building a house, is down 24 percent. "Now, some homeowners are moving forward on renovation or building projects they've put off for years," says the WSJ, and "others are exacting substantial price cuts from contractors desperate for work." So, if one of your New Year's resolutions is to complete that home renovation project you've been putting off, now may be just the right time.
