Keeping Contractors Honest

Everyone has heard a horror story about unscrupulous contractors. These marauders belly their way into your home with big promises of how they will beautify and revolutionize your home or terrifying scenarios about how your home is a ticking time bomb whose fiery demise will engulf you and your family in ruin.

I encountered one of the latter types a few years ago. He came to the door of my father’s house posing as someone who had an appointment to check the chimney flue. When he came in I could see his eyes scanning the room for opportunities. He caught sight of the fireplace and with eyes bulging with fear he told me breathlessly about the high level of carbon dioxide in the living room because of the "broken" fireplace. He fell to his hands and knees, crawled into the hearth and pulled out a gadget that he claimed would measure the noxious carbon dioxide. Of course it came up with an outrageously high reading. When he saw me hesitate on the verge of belief, he leaned in, “It’s really dangerous in here,” his eyes still bulging, “can’t you smell the carbon dioxide?” Smell the carbon dioxide?! The reason carbon dioxide is the silent killer is because it’s odorless and colorless. I reeled back from the edge of belief and escorted him out.

It’s not always necessary to be able to factually suss out your contractor; we can’t all be experts in every facet of construction. However, we can all push our contractors to be open and collaborative partners with us. First, being partners with your contractor means you’ll have to actively enter the partnership. You can’t be afraid to get dirty. You’ll have to stop nodding your head vacantly thinking about what you’ll have for dinner while the contractor talks. You’ll have to concentrate because you are learning something new. There is no need to know how to reshingle a roof after your consultation, but you should know how to recognize a shingle or flashing that might become a problem. I have been known to climb out onto a roof and demand that the contractor show me the problem and what precisely he is going to do about it. I’m not a roofer, but that doesn’t mean that a roofer shouldn’t try to make me understand what he is going to do before I part with one cent. This brings me to the next point.

Second, you must ask a lot of questions. There is no shame in peppering your contractor with lots of questions. If he cannot explain to you in plain language what he is going to do and then show you the problem so that you can at least recognize it, move along. This is why you can’t be afraid to get dirty. You may have to go out on the roof, under the sink or into the crawlspace to understand what is happening in your home. When I am working actively on houses, I wear jeans to work just about every day. This practice does raise eyebrows when I breeze into a policy meeting with the metro area's housing glitterati right after inspecting a house, but I sweetly explain that I just emerged from the bowels of a house that we are renovating for sale to a lower income family and all the liberals in the room perk up immediately and forgive my grime.

Now you might be wondering, how will I know that my contractor is answering my questions honestly and completely? Because third, you are going to get multiple bids. None of this, “I know a guy who’s a friend of a friend” or just hiring the first person you interview. You should prepare a detailed list of the work you want done (call it a “scope of work” when you talk to your contractors and they will realize you mean business) and have each contractor bid on the same scope. Then you can compare apples to apples. And it goes without saying that if you are hiring someone to do a lot of work on your house, you will want to be sure the contractor is licensed, bonded and has workers' compensation insurance.

The last tip is to go into these transactions feeling confident and powerful. After all, it’s your money and your house. Taking this simple advice won’t protect you from all scams, but most crooks will run from an involved, informed homeowner who makes clear that he or she has high standards.