With home improvement problems popping up on the Better Business Bureau’s Top 10 Scams of 2011, local experts offer myriad tips to help homeowners protect their investments when they remodel their homes.
According to BBB complaint data, home improvement contractors who often leave homes worse than they found them are frequently near the top of the scams list. Sometimes, they offer deals that seem too good to be true, and homeowners are left in the lurch.
Preventive advice ranges from obtaining at least three bids, checking references, requiring proof of insurance and bonding, and getting everything in writing.
Ask questions, get references
It’s important to ask contractors plenty of questions, from how many years they’ve been in business to how many jobs they’ve done to requesting references, said Cara Restelli Erwin, director of community outreach for the BBB of Southwest Missouri, which has resources for checking businesses’ ratings and complaint histories and filing complaints at
SWMo.BBB.org.
“You’d be surprised at how many people don’t ask questions,” she said.
When it comes to references, Erwin advocates for requesting them specifically from the contractor’s last three jobs, because otherwise, the contractor might provide only a list of satisfied customers.
Matt Morrow, CEO of the Home Builders Association of Greater Springfield, recommends that when checking references, homeowners ask a key question: Would the customer hire the contractor again?
“It opens the door to a conversation about things that went well about the project and things they hadn’t anticipated and how they were handled by the remodeler,” Morrow said.
Credentials and warning signs
Morrow said consumers should ask for certificates of insurance and bonding, noting that homeowners can attempt to verify coverage with insurers, but some may decline to disclose information.
Though Missouri doesn’t require remodeling contractors to be licensed, Morrow said the HBA Remodelor’s Council provides a voluntary form of credentialing, setting standards for membership and requiring members to carry workers’ compensation and general liability insurance.
Morrow and Erwin said contractors should be willing to answer all questions and supply relevant documents, so if they aren’t, it could be a red flag.
Morrow said consumers also should beware of any contractor seeking a deposit of half or more of the total cost of the work. Erwin recommended no more than a 30 percent deposit, and Morrow suggested benchmarking payments to completion of job segments.
One last warning from Erwin: “I would never recommend just going with someone on a gut feeling, because, sadly, people who seem like good, honest people rip people off every day.”
Working with the remodeler
Once a remodeling contractor has been chosen, it’s important for homeowners to realize surprises are inherent in the remodeling process – but what’s important is how contractors handle them.
Sam Bradley, owner of Sam Bradley Homes and a member of HBA’s board of directors, said 78 percent of his workload in 2010 entailed redoing work homeowners previously had done by others.
Bradley said disappointments can come not only from faulty work but also from unmet expectations. When he’s working with homeowners, he keeps them apprised of possible problems and outlines how he would handle them. “Communication between the contractor and the homeowner – that’s the critical part,” he said.
To that end, he suggested the two parties should spend time up front discussing the specifics of the project and the products and materials to be used. For this dialogue to be effective, homeowners need to have researched their plans thoroughly, he said.
Bradley recently worked with Jack and Barbara Greenhall on a bathroom overhaul at their home in southeast Springfield. The project was successful, but Bradley had to replace three things – a cabinet pullout organizer that he ordered based on a magazine photo Barbara Greenhall showed him; caulk that unexpectedly dried with a red hue; and a new showerhead that broke shortly after installation.
Bradley said the cabinet didn’t meet Greenhall’s expectations, so he found a suitable replacement, and he determined that the caulk was mislabeled.
Greenhall said she screens the remodelers she works with by consulting with HBA and checking their histories with the BBB.
“It’s one thing to have a problem and have it resolved, but something else again if they don’t take care of the issues,” she said.[[In-content Ad]]
