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Question:
We paid a remodeling contractor a large up-front deposit, and it has now been 2 months without any work done. We would like to cancel the contract and receive our money back, but the contractor won't
return our calls. What do we do now?!
Answer:
This is not good. I certainly hope that you are not another victim of theft by contractor. The first thing to do is to
track down the principle(s) of the Company
as soon as you can. You can get information about the principles of businesses from any number of sources. It may be a wise decision to hire an attorney to help you chase down the contractor to try and get your money back, or
to start legal proceedings. I am sorry to say that you may be in for a long haul.
Theft by contractor is by far the biggest loss a homeowner can incur from a contractor. Money has been paid up-front, and absolutely no
labor or materials have been delivered. That is why it is called theft by contractor, because it is theft. Is it done purposely? Probably not. I believe that most contractors are honest and hard working people, it's just that
many of them are poor businessmen. This happens because a majority came up through the trades working for someone else, and then decided to give it a go themselves without any business training. They really don't realize they
are in financial trouble until it is too late. In many cases, the money is long gone by the time they throw in the towel. What could you have done to protect yourself from theft by contractor? All it takes is some simple
investigation. But you as the property owner must do the leg work all by yourself. Think about it, what do all Companies in financial trouble have in common? They all have bad credit! I would be willing to bet my new cordless
drill that every contractor in serious financial trouble is on a COD or cash basis with everyone.
So, if that's the case, couldn't you weed that out by requesting names and numbers of a couple of their subs and
suppliers? You bet you could. Why, you may even scare off the contractor just by asking! If the contractor does agree to supply you with names and numbers of his subcontractors and suppliers, you don't have to worry about
dishonesty, loyalty to a prime contractor does not go that deep. Call them and ask how long they have been working for the contractor. If many of them are new accounts, that would be a red flag because a contractor in trouble
will constantly be opening new accounts to get fresh credit. The next question to ask would be if the contractor is current with their billing. If all the accounts are seasoned with billings current, you could take that as a
sign that at a minimum the contractor pays his bills, which is the backbone of a contracting business.
Naturally, there are many other areas of the contractors business you need to check out, but that info is in other
articles on my web page. I believe that if you would have asked to call your contractors subs and suppliers, you would not be in the situation you are in now. As I have been saying for years, protect yourself! Check out your
contractor!
Answered by: Patrick Benkowski, CR
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