A contractor may seem legit to you until they get away with your money without doing anything for you in return. While you can find honest and hardworking contractors, some cons want to get away with your money. That’s why you should know how to identify contractor scams before you start searching for one. Here are the top contractor scams to be wary about during the hiring process.
I Will Need Some Money Upfront
Most potential homeowners report this contractor scam more often. A contractor will claim that they need money to rent some equipment or order some materials to start working on your project. And for this reason, you should give them 30% or even 50% of your project price upfront. After giving them your money, they can disappear or engage in slapdash work because they know you can’t fire them since they have your money. To avoid this, don’t prepay a contractor more than 10% of the project’s total price.
I Give You My Word
Once you meet a contractor for the first time, they can be agreeable with everything you say. That means they agree to do the job according to your unique specifications. Some can even suggest some upgrades or extra touches. Unfortunately, the contract might not include some of these details, but you assume it doesn’t matter since you discussed and agreed about them in person. After a while, you can notice that the contractor is skipping the extras. Upon confronting them, they will tell you that those features are not part of the price. That means you have to pay them to redo the work or live without the extras.
To avoid this scam, make sure that your contract includes everything. Every detail you discuss with the contractor should go into your written agreement to give you legal redress if they skip it.
I Have Cheap Material You Can Use
This hoax is a scam that driveway paving companies run using hot-top concrete and asphalt because they can’t return them to a supplier. Regardless of how reasonable the price is, please don’t accept the material because its quality is probably flawed.
Always be careful when selecting and working with a contractor. That’s the only way you can avoid contractor scams that may end up costing you a lot of money.
