How to Recognize Contractor SCAMS
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- Опубліковано 3 лют 2020
- How To Avoid A Contractor Scam
Telltale Warnings Of A Contractor SCAM
ARTICLE: www.aconcordcarpenter.com/con...
Contractors Who Knock On Your Door For Work
Most legitimate contractors do not go door to door for work. Often these types of approaches are gypsy scams and the “pretend contractor” will offer a low price and pressure the homeowner to a quick decision.
In this case, don’t make a rash decision. Check the contractor's name and business address, “Google them,” and call the number on their business card. Oftentimes these numbers are not real, and the business name on the card does NOT have a real street address.
Ideally, contact legit contractors for input on the repair, get other quotes, and check references!!! Questions To Ask A Contractor
Not every contractor who might come knocking on your door will have a scam, but I’m skeptical.
Having Left Over Material From A Previous Job
This hoax is usually run by driveway paving companies, whose materials, hot-top asphalt and concrete, can’t be returned to the supplier. So, the crew pulls up to your house with a load of leftover product and quotes a great price to resurface your driveway on the spot.
Often times the price they offer seems too good to be true, but I guarantee you the work will be shoddy. Usually they not use the proper equipment to flatten he asphalt and the driveway starts heaving and cracking the next year.
The key here is never hire a contractor on the spot, whether it’s a driveway paver, or contractor. Take your time to check contractors out, check references, and make sure they have a good reputation and do quality work.
Ask For Money Up Front, Demands Cash
This is the most common scam, the contractor explains that because he has to order materials and rental equipment to get the job started, he needs, say, 30%-50% of the project price up front.
Once you’ve paid, one of two things happen: He disappears on you, or he starts the work and comes up with extra work needed.
To protect yourself ensure your contractor uses a contract that includes a payment schedule, with the dates and the amount of each payment stated in dollars.
In MA, any deposit required to be paid in advance of the start of the work cannot exceed one-third of the total contract price, or the actual cost of any material or equipment of a special order or custom made nature, which must be ordered in advance of the start of the work to assure that the project will proceed on schedule.
Progress payments should be made after significant work, and the final payment cannot be demanded until the contract is completed to the satisfaction of all parties.
No Contract
Contractor scam red flag - avoid anyone who says a contract isn’t needed.
Make sure your contract outlines specific work done, materials used, a price breakdown and a payment schedule. While some smaller subcontractors [repair techs] may not work with contracts on a regular basis, larger projects need them.
In MA any project I work on larger than $1,000 technically requires me to produce a contract. Click here, if you'd like to lean more on How To Write A Construction Proposal.
No Building Permit
You’re legally required to get a building permit for any significant construction project. That allows building officials to visit the site periodically to confirm that the work meets building and safety codes.
An unlicensed contractor may try to skirt the rule by telling you that it’s not needed, or ask you to apply for a homeowner’s permit, an option available to do-it-yourselfers.
But taking out your own permit for a contractor job means your responsible for monitoring all the inspections - since the contractor doesn’t answer to the inspector, you do.
Getting licensed is not a hard thing to do and contractors that don’t do it are lazy, cheap or not organized.
Always demand that the contractor to get a permit, this will weed out unlicensed contractors and give you added protection of an independent assessment of the work. Ask for proof or look online at your state licensing board’s site to make sure a potential contractor has a license to work in your area if a license is required.
Source: CoverWallet.com
No Insurance
Every professional general contractor you work with should have two types of insurance. Liability and Workers Compensation Insurance.
General liability insurance ensures that your property will be protected in case any damage happens during the project. Worker’s compensation insurance protects a general contractor’s workers in case they’re injured on your property.
This protects your property from damage and if someone is injured on your property. - Навчання та стиль
I like how the pro contractor tips are not just good for a contractor but also as an employee. Taking a little extra effort to make the company you work for a little more successful which keeps the company busy and allows the employee to advance in a company.
This is great stuff! I am a quality contractor with a good reputation and have a couple additional comments
1) if you hire a contractor that does not pay workers comp insurance, you as the property owner are liable if there is an injury or death...
2) you must get proof of full coverage auto insurance since the contractor's liability insurance will not cover property damage by a contractors' vehicle
3) require the contractor to add you as "additional insured" on his policy. This accomplishes two things - the insurance company will directly send you a certificate of the contractors policy and the insurance company will notify you directly if the policy is cancelled or lapse in coverage. This is not an unusual request to a legitimate contractor and does not cost him much (if at all depending on his policy)
Where are you located? I'm on the gulf coast and it's still a vague insult to a building man's honor to be too "pushy" about the legals. Good thing I'm from California. When they say "trust me" I hear something entirely different. 🧐
Nah....auto liability coverage? thats a new one. IF he has auto liability coverage, that covers property damage since liability is not "full coverage" its liability for property or personal injury to others property..not his own. But its probably not even chargeable to an auto policy anyway unless its a traffic collision of some type while operating the car. add as an insured? are ya nuts?
Really good info! Our saying is, "Not every contractor who knocks on your door will rip you off, but every contractor who will rip you off, will knock on your door."
This was great! Thank you, Rob!
Lot of good advice Rob. Thanks mate.
Excellent,excellent video! Great info for homeowners and contractors alike! Thanks Rob!
Thanks for the knowledge , Rob !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good video well paced and fun not boring.
Good advice. I really don’t understand the government who gives the permit but they don’t enforce the law.
Myself I have to be certified to work on computers and I need yearly certification to maintain my edge on different machines or software.
The lazy contractor can rob your money and then change the company name and there’s no consequences. They just disappear.
Thanks for making this video keep up the good work.
You just got a new subscriber. I am at the 2/3ds done stage of a lower-end reno. I have serious doubts that I will see him again on site, but now I'm going to have an airtight contract in hand with provisions for their insurance, completion dates and the final bill now that my husband and I have taken over what we are guessing is an abandoned job. I have a feeling if he wasn't going to bolt, and intended to *eventually* get it done, he will ghost as soon as he sees he's really going to be held to the agreement that was 6 days and is now 6 weeks. Wish me luck.
I had a recent run-in with Power Home Remodeling. They knocked on my door; I immediately was suspicious. Looked those guys up on Yelp. Do NOT let them into your home for that "free estimate."
Good advice. We have exactly the same scams over here in the U.K. With the driveway scam, frequently after you have agreed a price they drop and spread the asphalt then claim to have done more than agreed and try to strongarm you into paying. My old boss fell for it and the £500 resurfacing of his yard turned into £5000. He found himself surrounded by 6 beefy men demanding the cash with menaces. He would have been in real trouble if I hadn't called the police.
Yes - making threats and menaces - or demanding money with menaces - seems to be another indicator to watch out for with these types.
My small community, the best contractor for the job was also the cheapest. The three projects were an asphalt parking lot, a roof, And concrete work. All three contractors Were fast and efficient. They had the work, their employees, and the equipment dialed in to a fine tuned system.
A quick search on Google or certain social media sites on the web will get you a good idea about your contractor. No Ratings? There's probably a reason (no real contractor, changed names, new in the business). Bad ratings or just a couple of ratings? Be very careful! Contact the people that left the ratings and you might get valuable information. Plenty of positive reviews? That's a great start!
All good advice. Ive hired many contractors. Mostly good experiences. A couple disasters because I didnt follow this advice all the time. I knew better and was too trusting because I had mostly good contractors before. ya cant let your guard down!
Great tips!
Great advice.
As an artisan/craftsman I have a special love/hate relationship with contractors. There are either CANtractors and there are CONtractors. I won't work for a CONtractor and if I accidentally end up working for one, I will expose them and help the customer fix the situation by doing the job right if the contractor refuses to let me. They want to screw people but I refuse to help them do it
This was a great video to cover the basics. Lately I am finding specific trades that have become very proud of their work (meaning exorbitantly priced). I have had some that have done work before that come to look at the jobs to bid and then are too busy to bid. Those that finally do bid are 2x what the price should be or is ultimately paid. How does a consumer have a chance of not being taken advantage of in this environment?
Unfortunately with the skills ga - I think you'll see the really good contractors raising their prices. #InDemand
Thanks a lot!!
Great video buddy..
I’m an architect and building 4 homes contractor collected 30% deposit on each home and have two ppl working on the job. These contracts provided by contractors are usually illegal and not binding. You can’t collect more than 1k deposit it’s bs to pay all the money upfront then contractor won’t do any work even if they breach their contract you won’t be able to collect your deposit money because contractor already spent your money.
seyed tashakoti not correct sir. In Massachusetts you cannot collect more than a third or the cost of special materials needed to custom order
The one I hear the most in the one I can finish the customer sentence in. Contractor is halfway through his mom sister is really really sick and they need to go and take care of them just over the weekend and they need some money. You ain't going to see him come back so I give him money. People need to understand money is what drives us as contractors to be there if you give us all the money up front why do we want to be there. That not with standing somebody that has some moral scruples xcetera
If the job bid reads "cost estimate " this means there are possible hidden costs that most likely will occur because the contractor doesn't want to take the time to do a proper bid or just doesn't have the experience to consider the unforeseen conditions.
Thanks for the info. Common sense goes a long way too.
Great video Rob! Well worth the wait!
My friend was almost scammed by one of the bigger contracting companies in our area. They wanted $8500 for a job where the material was probably far below $1000 and probably a single person making $22/hr could do in approx 4-8hrs. So what would they do with the $7500 profit? I hate contractors, they are so greedy! After i called them out on their BS they dropped the price to $4100 and of course thats still too much. I could go buy the product for twice the price they buy it for in bulk, pay a handyman double what they pay their employees and it would cost less than half of their lowest price. Maybe even less. Very easy job. If it was my house I'd do the job myself and save even more and have fun doing and also make sure its done right.
Thank you.
Sound advice - caveat emptor Great advice and video
Haaa. In that contract you displayed I noticed the total sum for the job is wrong ($86,4555.00). Too many 5's. Glad someone else makes mistakes too.
SO LT yep extra 5
Here before this gets a million views.
Well thanks for giving away my scams
I made the mistake to hire the most expensive contractor and he is the worst, four months for a permit, never has one.and I gave him $13k , how can I get my money back or at least some. I'm in Broward county, Florida
This is the 2nd place in hud . .I have lived where they crept in while im out. .drilling a small hole into bath tub.. . .people who do stuff like this are mischievous.
This is the opposite of what I wanted to learn more about. I cant stand all these contractors who buy the product for 1/20th the cost of the job and pay their workers another 10% of the total job price and so they take home 85% of the total job price without doing any of the work... They just run the company and do quotes. What I do is I buy the product for twice or double the price the contractors can get it for, then I hire someone for double the wage those contractors pay their employees and get the same thing done for 1/4 the price (or i do the work myself and save even more). I dont understand why everyone needs to be able to afford a 3000sqft home, pool, 3 vacations a year, an expensive boat and cars. Why cant people spread equality by only making a little more money than their employees and saving customers money so that more money can trickle down to the ones in society making even less money who dont even own homes etc. I honestly am ashamed to be of the same species as humanity. I'm so sick of it all. No one has energy to fight for equality cuz they are toiling away to try to prevent their own little world from imploding. I have 2 jobs and I give so much of my income to various different aspects of society and when i hire ppl i pay them good (but not $300/hr like so many contractors want). I pay them mkre than **I** make per hour!!! I make amazing money working at $40/hr but I have a small house, one car and one vacation per year. So i can pay my contractors $50/hr, double what a contractor company will pay them as an employee. And i can give my excess income to society. The only other person I've met on this planet who lives like this is my father. I'm surrounded by greedy people and I'm so sick of the inequality.
Great and true video with covering lots of aspects, but you shouldn't refer to the bad contractors as gypsy, i have seen all kind in my career.
that wasn't my intent, but the video did go from gypsies to poor contractor methods.. .Not my intent though
I paid an iron worker to build me a gate. Paid half upfront and never saw them again. What should I do? I do know where he lives. I paid upfront with a check.
Bounce the check. Honestly checks crack me up. It allows so much time for the writer to screw the receiver. Unless they wont start work until the check has cleared.
I agree with some things and some not. Getting 3 estimates is kind of excessive. If you have a brain, 2 estimates should be sufficient to give you a good idea of what its gonna cost. Getting permits is sometimes not necessary especially here in cook county chicago. They want you to get permits for the dumbest things imaginable. Even just to cut down a stupid 4 foot tree (technically). Its just greedy politics. I live in the outskirts unincorporated cook county so we can basically do what we want. But if contractors had to get permits for every little thing, it would drive prices much higher than they already are. Small contractors just wouldn't last. I understand and respect you trying to set the bar higher but there will always be shady contractors and all it takes is one to screw it up.
There are also greedy companies. Long story short, I got a quote from a large company for running power to my shed 100 feet away. I did it myself with burial wire in ridgid conduit going under the slab into the shed, yadda yadda yadda. (I do things better than code requires lol) Cost me about $350 and 2 days. They quoted me for $2,700. WTF!!!! Are they doctors? There gonna come with a couple of guys and pound it out in a few hours (and not do it as good as I did I might add. I know this because he told me exactly what he was gonna do. Very shotty. Just good enough to get it done) and they want $2,700? The jackass that did the quote wasn't even gonna do the job. Obviously he's gonna get a piece of the pie. But I'm not gonna be the one that gives it to him.
Also having a nice house doesn't help. The few times I've had quotes. When the contractor pulls up and gets out of his car and sees my house, I can already see the dollar signs glistening in his eyes lol. Little does he know with me he got another thing coming lol. WOW what a type fest lol.
Well said
You mean crook county right? Lol small projects like changing blinds,painting,or flooring might not need permits but that being said nobody should ever hire a contractor who isn't insured ever!!
@@chethans7491 Ha. "Crook county" is an under statement.
thanks for commenting
nice
"Most contractors don't go door to door..." Aaaaaaand yet another thing I think I need to work on. Thanks Rob. Although, "O'Robillard" does sound a bit Emerald Isle. Just sayin' - Nice video kid.
MyFixitUpLife show haha
Try putting flyers up in the local grocery store.
A small percentage!??? Another thing most contractors won't even come out for the quote so poor people are desperate.
Oh my gosh!! I wish I had seen this video before we had our kitchen remodeled. He was a BIG FAT LIAR 🤥 LOADS of 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩😏😢
Where would your neck of the woods be?
Massachusetts
Concord MA
"How to Recognize Contractor SCAMS". This is easy. Just automatically assume they are always trying to scam you lol. Also a little research on the project will go a long way.
Stop! That's not a good way to go about things in life
@@ConcordCarpenter Actually if you think logically its kind of a good way to look at life, You'll never be dissapointed, and will be pleasently supprised most of the time.
So i have hired a carpenter working on my new bathroom floor etc , but i notice he can come 7 o clock , work 2-3 min , then gone 45 min , comes back works 2-3 mins , gone for 30-40 mins , like what the f.... , is this normal practice these days people ? rarely time to come back 8.30 work 5 min and its time for breakfast break at 9 for another hour , thats 3 hours written down work and only 7 min work actually done .... like wtf
I go door to door and bust my ass , so that’s bullshit
Some true some false , but just because someone goes door to door trying to get a job doesn’t mean they’re a scam. Maybe they’re just the type of person that loves money and loves doing the right job for people and to do anything to succeed