DIYbanter - View Single Post - Are there ANY contractors who keep appointments?

wrote on 04 Jan 2005:

d) Insist on copies of insurance, compensation, bonding, etc.

Okay ... but I will need copies of your last three bank
statements, your previous year's income tax return and an up to
date credit bureau report. If you don't trust me, why would I
trust you?

Ken,

I agree with everything you've said except this (and I know you
were being at least partly facetious here. But.....

You're asking the homeowner for advance payments and progress
payments. If the check bounces, you lose nothing. If the
contractor doesn't show up or does poor work, the homeowner is SOL.

It's amazing (at least in this state) how many contractors get a
judgment against them and immediately go bankrupt. They reorganize
as a new business and the homeowner is stuck with nothing.

It seems to me that licensing, insurance, workman's comp, and
bonding protect your reputation and set you above the fly-by-night
guys. In many states, this is getting easier to check on the
Internet anyway.

--
Doug Boulter

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