Mike Holmes Reveals Top Contractor Scams! | Best of Holmes on Homes 102
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- Опубліковано 21 бер 2023
- Rely on a contractor’s words instead of their work and you run the risk of being conned… In this episode, Mike Holmes recalls some of the best examples of what happens when a contractor oversells and under delivers. From bargain basements to shaky foundations, these stories show what happens when you get less contractor than you paid for and what it takes to Make It Right®.
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#HomeRenovation #Construction #Makeover
I had a contractor in my basement doing some painting, and his quote didn't have anything broken down per specific area. He was there for 5 days, put 4 coats on the ceiling. I pointed out crap he did wrong, giving him a chance to finish it. He didn't. He was to spray the ceiling, then back roll it. The roller left splotchy marks at best. He also sprayed my shop vac with his sprayer and left holes in the ceiling. Needless to say I fired him. I put no money down, and he then tried to bill me for about 2/3 of the work he screwed up. I didn't pay him. I just ended up painting myself, doing a lot better job than most so-called 'professionals' out there.
I'm glad Mike was there to help these people. But I have a real problem with these contractors doing shoddy work then leaving the homeowners without a leg to stand on. They need to be held accountable for what they have done.
How about holding the Democrats accountable for stealing the election. I think most of the poverty and violence in the world is caused by corrupt so-called governments. And their bad example encourages even more widespread corruption. Proper governance would probably go a long way towards fixings some of these problems.
I seem to be loving this show, because I am a Type A person, I like to do things right. However, we Type A people are often accused of being slow and unproductive. Yet we have to come behind other people and fix their shoddy work. Yet guess who gets the praise for being productive.
If I was one of those tradesmen, I would want to work for a company that does good professional work. It would be so sad if such a company could not manage the finances and went out of business.
A show like this gets me thinking about what sort of stuff may not be right in my home, yet I don't have the money to fix it. However, outdated-decor homes could be functional, yet more affordable because they look outdated.
That last one was incredible, a whole new house. Final product way cooler than the original.
I have been a huge fan of Homes on Homes for years. Mike Homes is definitely my hero….
I live in South Africa and trust me when I say we have dodgy builders.
We have owned a number of homes and each one of them have had major issues and faults.
My current home has so many issues, especially with all the cracks in all the walls, both inside and out. Hundreds of thousands have been spent on these houses due to shoddy workmanship.
The sad part is, we don’t have anyone we can turn to in order to hold these builders accountable.
God Bless all these people that have been helped with their problems.
His name is Holmes, not Homes.
I think Holmes missed the boat by not teaming up with some lawyer who followed up for the people affected. Anyway i love this show and how scratched paint ends up with a total gut of the house and seeing it done right.
A lawyer would be a great idea , and Holmes would make sure it was a lawyer , not a liar !!
( I have Liar Liar on VHS )
Honestly you're never going to get a penny out of most of these fly-by-night people, because they don't have the money to begin with, so there's not usually much for a lawyer to do.
@@gwillen Or they have moved to a different shell company and didn't have any assets in the old company from day one.
It's Canada. Lawyers are not something we think about when things go wrong. Note no one mentioned lawyers in almost any episode.
@@gwillen Exactly, it's easy to win a lawsuit against someone, collecting is another matter.
Wait, Mike! Don't throw that signed 2x4 away -- use it as evidence in court!
All of these stories are upsetting to me, But the last one was a real tear jerker.. I really felt for this family. Thank you for redoing their house. Another sad thing about this show is I suspect most of these builders are still in business and still doing what they do. I wish communities / countiries etc etc had lists of contractors who do shoddy work, to be able to put a LEAN on them and their business to protect others from hiring them...
Tht wld be shooting yourself the corrupt politicians get paid from the corrupt blders and contractors. One hand washes the other it's one big corrupt circle of economics
They don't get any better than Mr. Mike. He shows honor to his raising and God's love to other people
He's having some issues with houses he approved that feel apart. Gods mysterious way...
Ah the good old days of Mike's TV show, what happened I ask? This is the coolest cause Mike explains what he is doing, something missing from the new shows.
Thanks for the upload. Love, love, love Mike Holmes!Have learned so much from his shows over the years.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I've done most of the maintenance on my house myself because I wanted it done right. I've lucky to get recomendations for good contractors.
We did a full kitchen gut and addition. Having watched many of Mike's show's I was able to catch many of the scams the contractor's hires tried to get away with. Things like not putting the correct size insulation in to the height of the windows. I think the contractor is still wondering why, once the framing was complete, I got others to finish out my kitchen and addition.
When you fight these problems everyday you coming in and doing things the right way just takes so much off our shoulders. Your beautiful work gives us piece of mind and a great nights sleep. Thankyou mike . You and your crew are awesome people. Sending much love from Florida ❤❤❤
Mike holmes is def one of the best contractors on the planet. Wish there was more of him. It's so hard to trust the people doing work on your house.
i remeber every episode from the tv show that was on tv several yeras ago. Loved Mike Holmes ever since,
Mike Holmes and Norm Abrams. Since my first home purchase in 1973 in PA. To a 2nd in 1978, a summer beach home in NJ to 1988 fixer upper at another beach home in NJ to 2003 purchase of my now retirement home in FL. Learned how to, when to and when not to. So very grateful. At 73, things are harder for me to do, take longer than they used to, but I wouldn't and won't do it any other way. Single female.
I loved watching Norm Abrams. I never owned real estate, but I respected him for his integrity and skills. I also enjoyed watching Mike Holmes.
Thank for being honest and doing the hard necessary work.
Love Mike... wish there were more wonderful people like him in the world. Can he be cloned? I rent and whoever did this house has no business doing any home reno... the kitchen, bathrooms, everything... joke. I am no contractor... but even I can see it's the worst job ever... and my Landlady asked me if I wanted to rent to own?????? Hells no... this place is a money pit.
Mike is a superhero.
Super informational! LOVE IT
Glad you liked it!!
something similar happened to my in-laws. They paid a contractor UP FRONT for a new garage. The guy did pour a floor pad. But then he took the money, went to the casino, lost all the money, then went home and beat up his wife. So he took his pickup truck and disappeared. No recourse. Luckily his church organized some builders to spend a few days to build the garage. Don't pay up front!
I watched this show I don't recall on what channel, so I am thrilled to see his channel. I am subscribing now. And since I will be buying a new home in the coming months, I will be doing my best to ensure that the inspection is good and if I should need work done after I move in (like maybe enhancing the kitchen), I will get referrals and will check licenses and look at their work. Thank you Mike for all your great advice and for helping these families get what they paid for.
that last one left me speechless! more like i kept saying to myself holly fu** then to have the audacity to bring in his own engineer thinking that well he hired them so they will side with him only to find more issues than mike's engineer found all all the crap the guy pulled just blew my mind! I truly hope that between the bank and the homeowner they sued the guy into oblivion
In a way , it was a godsend that the contractor brough his own engineers. He shot himself in the foot. Now they needed to have an auditor audit his books, to see where the money went.
This is why I so my own work. To many scams both in amount of time to do the job and workmanship.
Well done Mike & your team, great seeing your kids, they are generally great people themselves, you did this Mike...
Do you ever get a chance on meeting the bad contractors, if so what do you say, ha
Don't take the first swing.....Great job
Hey when you are done fixing Canada
Please please come fix America...
This is why I am very hesitant to hire ANYONE to work on my house. The horror stories are endless & the headaches last a lot longer than they should not to mention the costs involved. This is why I’m learning as much as possible so I can do a lot of the small stuff myself.
References, references, references, even if a contractor comes highly recommended by friends or family check other references.
Edit: That being said my business partner and I (both red seal carpenters with 25+ years experience) won't accept a project without 75% paid up front, so the never pay in advance isn't always right (just usually). We can ask that because we have a ton of references, are booked 6-8 months in advance, and don't take cash or check (everything is paid by credit card through the website)
If you are handy and like to do hands on work I applaud you. A lot of reno work can seem intimidating but youtube can find you videos explaining how to do everything, just be warned the finishing work may seem easy to do but doing it like a professional isn't going to happen.
Geez, I hope you are going to do one for top homeowner scams..... like not paying!
That Bay Window = Ricky repairing Marguerite's bathroom!🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
We built our own log cabin , but I was raised on jobsites. My Father was a German builder and everything was point on. The 2 contractor's we did he for plumbing and electrical....I watched everything they did.
I have just learned about Holmes involvement in Terace Wood/Third Line Homes in Meaford Ont.
Good from afar but far from good.
Two have been demolished so far.
I love Mikes shows, especially being shown the right way to build. I started a building business decades ago, but got out. I found it impossible to compete with all those lying contractors. I was always too expensive because i planned to do it right and not cut corners etc. The prospective clients story was always the same. " So and so said he can do it without all that." I would have liked to hear why that foundation was spalling so bad. I bet Mike has a reason why he doesn't show names and pictures of these criminal builders. Anonymity keeps these con men in business.
This is a Canadian TV show, and I live in the U.S. How then could I avoid the shoddy builders, if names were named? That probably would be a distraction from the entertainment and how-to nature of the show, unless I lived in the same general area. And Mike Holmes is perhaps very good at fixing things, so many not so good at suing the people doing the crappy work. You can't expect a person to be good at everything?
But why can't some of those ambulance-chasing lawyers take on these sorts of cases? Oh, that's right, they are the shoddy workers as well? We need more good lawyers that will expose and indict the corrupt governments.
And the tips of how to do it right, might even be helpful to do-it-yourselfers. We often want to do it right, or even better than right, but we do not always know how. At least when we DIY, there may not be as much pressure to get it done fast and profitable.
Great informative money saving show all you gotta do is listen ,make notes etc ,then apply .The big thing for me is the dissection in how he comes to the conclusion of what the problems are ,how he repairs sorts finds a remedy its his skill and years of experience that you see , his due diligence sort him out from the rest, above code always works great work Mike and the Bennett Crew .
one thing I love is...when people do shit half arsed, it's so easy to get up
I’ve learned to ask if a contractor if he plans to use subs. If so, I get copies of their contractors licenses and liability insurance as well. Helps to get photos of the license plates of all involved.
Also check online court records to see if they’ve been sued by homeowners and suppliers, or if they have a recent record of drunk driving or drugs. These problems create financial pressures that make it more likely he’ll mismanage the money you give him, and more likely his workmanship and dependability will suffer.
Yes, it’s a lot to do. But it’s better than losing tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to a bad contractor.
My Father had a brand new driveway poured in December 2017. Began to spall almost immediately. The contractor said was due to salt from the snow plows 😫😫 Apparently they ALL lie when there's a huge costly problem for them to "repair." Essentially the outcome is the same - the driveway produces it's own fine gravel that you have to sweep up often. At least it's not the foundation of the home as that was poured awhile before the driveway was in warmer weather!
Excuses, excuses and dumb ones too, is what they try to get you believe. In Netherlands, our downstair neighbours suffered SEVERE water pressure issues after having a bathroom reno. The contractor said it was due to problems with city water pressure. We live UPSTAIRS, right above them and have no issue. How stupid do these soddy contractors think we all are?
@@sachadee.6104 What was the cause? Why was their water pressure affected after their bathroom was renovated?
A 2000 square foot addition that’s like an entire house lol
Finding a good contractor is almost impossible nowadays! Good luck! Even if you find a reputable one, they will upcharge every item they install! Your best bet is to educate yourself and do it yourself! This way, you know it's done right, and you won't be ripped off by them upcharging everything. Contractors nowadays think they are retailers as well!
not to mention they will sub out 99% of the work to who ever will do it cheapest not caring if they are qualified to do the job
That crumbling concrete reminded me of The Shawshank Redemption , ( Andy would have got out in one night )
I love Mike
As a business owner this sickens me. Your customers happiness should be first priority. Makes me feel good that's there is other people out there that cares about people
As a widow and homeowner I now feel sick to my stomach after watching this show. I’ve been taken every time I tried to do a project at this home 😢😢😢those disgusting contractors.
Cameras! Gotta love ‘em♥️
We've been trying to build our home after losing it in the fire near Paradise CA 4 years ago. Our last contractor left the job when he was questioned by our insurance. After over 6 months of back and forth trying to get an accurate invoice from him, he sent us an invoice with a lot of items that weren't even installed, including an AC unit that clearly wasn't even on the property.
We're still living in a leaky RV with our children, trying to resolve this issue so we can move on and hire someone else.
I have recently bought a OLD home, we knew we were going to need renovations to fit our needs... What we found was just insane... The original owner was taken advantage of... The amount of "creative" work done on the place, I am still surprised the place did not burn down... Try one outlet on two circuits... (the tabs were still connected) Who takes advantage of a 103 year old?
That's where experience counts. Around 18 minutes, where they say that that sort of tile needs to be dry. Brick works well wet. I did not know that.
If I won the lottery, I'd get Mike Holmes to fix up my house! (With a million-dollar donation to his favorite charity as a tip.)
if i won the lottery i would hire him and his contractors to build my house!
ahh... Wish I could get you guys to come to my home free of charge. lol You can film the whole thing ! lol
We had a 12 foot window and it turned the maintenance guy said he used to do it. So he came over with two helpers. Took 4 of us to get the window the window the window in. Then 2 held while I cut the shims for the guy that knew what he knew what he was doing. Then all three us held up the window while the smart guy checked the the window for squareness as it had crankouts. He messed with it for a long time then he had it it done he gave me a list of shims to complete the install. Great install.
We build simple 1,2,3 car finished detached garages. They are a shell on the inside.
I have a homeowner telling me (through a lawsuit) that the 14'x24' single-story beautiful little garage we built has to be torn down and he is suing my company for $165K. He still owes us $15K on a 30K contract! Now I gotta pay a lawyer in New Jersey 5K to start the process of responding to the litigation the homeowner started..... I know homeowners get ripped off all the time but what about scammer homeowners that rip off contractors. If an independent service inspected our work and told us the homeowner is correct. I would agree with that. Who do I call?
At the age of two, my oldest grandson preferred Mike Holmes over TOH. Smart kid. At fourteen very smart and capable. Six foot four , 210 lbs, he has his own tools and knows how to use them.
What did you feed that kid?Lol ! You should be proud.
I have seen boxes chained to a street light pole. There was core samples in the box for testing concrete. Is this only commercial sites?
I was wondering what happened to you, my wife and I love you, even though she didn’t know what was wrong in the first place. Wish you were in Chicago, can you recommend any good contractors here?
Seeing these really makes you loose faith in people, I'm not a builder and would trust easily.
Thankfully there's people around who are honest and do a great job, my question is who pays for the work that Holmes does on TV, does the studio /film company pay? As the redoing of.botched jobs must cost thousands to do and if a couple have already paid scammers surely they can't afford to pay double.
Love the show and team you have.
Although there are bad contractors, I'm sick of seeing these families of 3 or 4 people build these gaudy monstrosities and then complain about money.
Not to mention how it sticks out like a sore thumb from the neighbors homes.
No pity for them
I will bet that the house with a failing concrete foundation was in northern Oakville, I know that because back in the 80s, I drove a Concrete truck and when I got to those houses in Oakville, I was shocked, they wanted the concrete wet enough to find its own level, and for as wet as they wanted it, it would not surprise me it would 5 MPA
Good work Mike!
40:00
A person in Brooklyn had a contractor do their elevated patio, but did such a poor job, the home owners didn't want to pay them because the contractors did a horrifying job.
The contractor in return put the house on a lien. And the home owners who purchased the house for $800k was forced to go to court to fight for the house and horrible contractor labor.
The owners lost their $800k house to the contractor, even though they proved to the judge that the labor was done incorrectly. The original home owners since they lost the house,
moved out of the USA and moved to Canada and swore they would never return to the USA. The contractor stole that family's house.
The family lost their $800k house over an elevated patio that was constructed incorrectly and came apart while the family had a family bbq gathering with only 7 other adults & 3 children.
Once heard of a contractor who, unlike most who overcharged for shoddy work, overcharged for high quality work. And he got away doing this longer than the others who overcharged for bad work. Seems most victims never complained, they most have figured the overcharge was the price to pay for the high quality.
Can you come down to Decatur,IL Our house need help
I miss this show
That bay window security footage, you could have set some old piano music to that, switched it to B&W, and I'd have beleived it was a 3 Stooges skit. I don't know if I want to laugh or cry it's just so bad.
My sister got scammed by a flooring company. She had new hard wood put down by what should have been an easy job turned to a disaster. The workers didnt want to properly scrape the floor so charged her more for new layer of under-layment. Well now with doing so she had to pay to have her front door raised otherwise it scraped the new floor. Not the first issue. Now the counters are lower than the stove, she cant get a new fridge and were not sure if the dish washer will come out.
How about a show, Bennett builders, because he did alot of work for Mike
My thing is, if you can do it right by doing it yourself, go ahead and do it
That’s why you check references
Hope the homeowners sue the contractors for their shoddy work. Glad they were able to get their issues resolved. Glad the tile company did the right thing and helped the homeowner.
my god, these people ... i do what i can on my part of the house, sadly i do have to outsource repairs and such since im not skilled thourougly and i ve had my share of unproffesional con artists, some never showed up despite being appointed, others did a lousy job with uneven furniture and such. though, im in eu, but this is a worldwide problem
that last video the contractor, and all that signed off on his work should all be in Prison. With a million dallor fine for each violation of code.
Let’s face it rarely is something done right the first time.
14:08 Its sounds like the couple are Glasgow.
I would love to be on one of your job sites.
So leave the kids at home and get out there and help people
More Holmes on homes make it right inspection all that good stuff
Damon still works for you right
Grade work on the window. Yes I will most contractors don’t even know how
In two of these cases there were examples of a problem not even mentioned. DO NOT put a vapor barrier on the inside part of a basement finish. You are creating a mold sandwich and the mold problem will manifest itself years later after the so called professionals are long gone..
WOW
So, Rico to the Rescue holds their feet to the fire. We never see it but I’m thinking Mike Holmes does the same
Some say he does too much, to me that's going above and beyond, it comes natural to many people, we also enjoy making others happy 🙂
GOD BLESS YOU MIKE & ALL PEOPLE WHO HELP YOU MAKE IT RIGHT 😇😇😇😇😇😇😇🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Home warranty companies are a joke. I install hvac and have heard so many horror stories of dealing with these companies
Everyone who does a -basement- cellar has to do a First One 'ever'.
They are supposed to have some education and be supervised.
Yes, as an apprentice and with supervision.
I SSOOOOOOooo wish the program would reveal the names of these terrible contractors, to pre-warn others! This is not a true 'gotcha' if the names aren't published!
If they revealed the names of the bad contractors they could be sued for slander and libel.
@@donnamurphy5698 In the end they would win, the ultimate defense against a charge of libel is the truth, but with all the all hassle involved in fighting it in court it's just not worth it.
Agreed! It's all deniable when there are no names used!
This sound like my uncle on his bs he knows what he is doing but he tends to take short cuts and will mess things up somtimes
In the thumbnail photo, I like the before photo better without that big white apron below the window.
The lady didn't look too happy during the reveal. That bay window totally screws up the look of the original house. I bet she would rather have her old window back instead of that big monstrosity.
A donation to the church so they went along with it? The damage done is massive when someone believes that the contractor can do no evil.
21:48 good god, there's nothing scarier than an engineer with a hammer...
An I gotta say this to get 3 bit an choose the middle one for good work an the high bidder for good an responsive
Last one...wonder if she's still friends with the guy's wife? 😂
ugh, why would anyone replace a huge window in the middle of a canadian winter? how do you keep a house warm through that?
Carpenter since 1973, I've seen and repaired so many homes built by people not knowing what they were doing or trying to save money by hiring the cheapest contractor. Before you give them money go see what they have built . Talk to those people. . It's not hard to hire good people look into their past.
Um, that last house, it sure looks like it's too much house for that neighborhood. If the houses around it are like the original house, small bungalows, they're unlikely to ever get their money back when they try to sell it.
Would be awesome id naming and shaming was the point of his shows. Legitimately, such a wide followed program could scare trash contractors into the holes they've dug.
I am on a lot of forums and there are terrible contractors getting away with a lot in high value areas. Mess a few people over and you make a good annual income. Change the industry by crushing the terrible contractors.
He forgot the one where a contractor makes a TV show
Boy is Holmes a good example of why one doesn't want to move to Canada.
The last couple had the worst experience. How much money did they spend to refurbish the entire house? Are they still living there today? Two and one half years waiting for their house, with a half million dollar lien would have killed me.
TWO AND A HALF YEARS!!???
Home Warranty is one big scam.
I think I ripped this bathroom out last week
30 000 $ for a bathroom??? Hesus, Maria and Hose....
I hate to be that guy but that was a bow window not a bay window.
that contractor should never be allowed to work in construction ever again