I've become a big fan of Angie's List for sourcing contractors, service companies, even a veterinarian.

I can't help it, the picture here is priceless. A contractor with an obviously fake name that talks to his machines.

Perfect!

A lot of the door to door "contractors" are Irish Traveller scammers who breeze into town, do their scam and depart before the law can catch up with them.

I'd love one of those shady outfits to pull the old roofer after a hail storm bit on my street because the guy diagonal from me IS a roofing contractor! The guy across from me is a general contractor also.

Every person on the street would send them over to the offices of Taylor Roofing (the roofer works out of a home office) and the roofer would tell the flim-flammer to go jump in his farm pond! If I really needed a new roof after the ubiquitous Alabama hail storms, I'd use him; not some guy who happens to drive a white pickup with a ladder rack.

My dad was a small time contractor who operated through word of mouth and he was always in competition with the flim-flammers. If your neighbor/coworker/friend/etc tells you that they know a really good (insert trade) contractor who does work on the side and did a really good job for them; go with it. Word of mouth is THE best way to hire someone like that; you can actually inspect the work they did without even contacting the contractor to thus avoid any potential hard sell.

The only door to door person I have ever hired was when we had a big dead maple in our front yard. I was getting people knocking on my door 2-3 times a week. They started coming back with lower bids. I had planned to get family together and get it cut down eventually but the price became low enough to just hire them. I paid cash and they chopped it that very night. No money up front, and I didn't pay them til the job was done.

Not sure why someone going door to door is a issue. Sometimes people dont look up at their house. Perhaps their is a gutter that is leaking or missing. Stopping by for a chat seems innocent. While the scammers are out their you have to place some blame on the customer. If there is no proof of the issue and the contracor cant show you. Better yet if you were not smart enough to shop around for a better rate or at least make sure its comparable to others before writing a check then is it really a crime. Some people are higher priced than others. AS far as fixing something that isnt broken thats just plain wrong.

We're in process of looking to do some work on our house. Washington Consumer Checkbook is a pretty good resource, rating by both satisfaction and price. BBB is also pretty good. Checking with Realtors who recommend contractor services to potential home sellers also works. Best of all, if you can do it yourself....

The only time I've ever hired someone going door to door was the kid down the street trying to earn some money my mowing my lawn. I've known the kid for years, so I knew he was a good kid and would do a good job.

*forwards this to husband who seems to think this is a great idea, hiring the shady help that are always "cheaper"*

@billbillbillbill:

We redid the landscaping when we purchased a neglected home 5 years ago. The guy we hired had his license with the state but when it came to trees, he said his insurance only covered plants up to 12' off the ground.

We took out a few dying trees on our own but one had branches extending into the power lines. Had to hire a tree service to deal with that monster. It cost more but we've been warned by others- cheaper people aren't carrying liability insurance and if the limb comes crashing down on their heads, will it also hit your homeowner's policy? That could be problematic.

Whew, glad I'm married to a union carpenter or I might have been stupid enough to hire someone that cold called here. Oh wait, no one cold calls here. The three big dogs seem to keep unknowns away from the door.

Even if they have a brick and mortar doesn't mean they are honest. I just tend to stick with large companies with good reputations even if I have to pay a bit more. I never respond to solicitors.

Ditto DAK's comment on Angie's List: Although membership is around $60/year, finding one good service provider (or avoiding a bad one) has saved me many times that.

I've only fallen for a service scam once: After I had surgery many years ago, a guy came to my door and offered to fix a loose shingle on my garage roof for $75 (paid in advance, of course).

He never completed the work. He also forgot to take his toolbox when he left.

He had the balls to come back two weeks later and ask me if I had seen his toolbox. Naturally, I had no idea where it went.

Revenge is sweet. :-)

@gman863: That's like the short-changers who leave more cash on the counter than they make off with...

Yeah, you can't trust Bob The Builder. If you need a good contractor, call Handy Manny instead.

@billbillbillbill: My dad has hired a couple of tree services that came by, but they actually were in the neighborhood working on our neighbor's trees. One actually took an old RV of ours that had been damaged as payment.

@gman863: Outstanding. There's a very good chance that his tools were worth more than $75.

Bob the Builder fo' sheezy!

Ok, I have been stuck in my cube too long.... :(

I live in the Houston area, and last year after Hurricane Ike, I had people from all over the country knocking on my door offering to fix my roof. I went with a local company, but some of my neighbors were taken in by the scammers. My question to the out-of-town people was always "what do you do when someone needs warranty work?"

I demand the Bob the Builder picture be taken down. He is no shady contractor. If fact, if you check out his kicks, he may very well be a pimp.

I never do business with people who come to my door or call me on the phone; since I'm not terribly confident in my ability to resist a smooth sales pitch, I just make that my unbreakable rule and it keeps me safe.

@billbillbillbill: There was this guy called "Pin Oak Man" -- he had a name but that's what everyone called him -- who drove around the suburbs of Chicago looking for sick Pin Oaks and putting a door hanger on your door explaining what was wrong with your pin oak (local soil lacking a particular nutrient) and the treatment he developed to fix it and what it'd cost. He was a retired, like, science teacher or something? And this was his life's vocation, saving Pin Oaks. He was like a tree evangelist.

My family hired Pin Oak Man and, yes, he saved our gorgeous older pin oak.

But he was a special case. and a special, useful kind of crazy.

I had some drive-by gutter cleaners come by about two weeks ago offering to clean my gutters for a low, low rate, and pointing out I had trees growing in them.

I declined (a teenager could clean my gutters for $20, I have a simple and very low roofline), but they were right about the trees, so I made my husband do it that weekend.

Mostly what these door-to-door guys do is get things added to my husband's list, since someone else noticed them for me.

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): Maybe he should get a dog...

Mike Holmes Here

@keepher: Please be careful.

My dad, a retired union carpenter, fell for a paving scam ten years ago and is still bitching about it. The acting was so good that he paid in full because of an 'emergency'.

I asked him if he'd ever been paid more than material before a job was complete. He sheepishly admitted never.

@RecordStoreToughGuy:
I think of it as a gift of Karma: It isn't the money; it's the thought that counts.

The toolbox itself was crap; however I still have many of the tools that were in it.

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): Now that they're clean, is your mind finally out of the gutter?

"Lapsed Licenses: Look up the contractor's Better Business Bureau rating ..."

What the FUCK? The BBB is not a regulatory or licensing agency & has no sort of authority as they are non-governmental. They are just another SUCK business that tries to fool people. A business gets a bad rating if they do not pay into their protection racket, not just for complaints (check out how eBay & PayPal rate).

Consumerist, please stop giving the BBB any credibility. They are as scammy as the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) which is funded by credit card companies & other creditors to protect their interest & not the consumers, most of them are known as Consumer Credit Counseling Service.

i think you need to elaborate on the "lapsed license" part. that is the MOST IMPORTANT PART!!!1! make sure your contractor is LICENSED & INSURED. verify it. twice. thrice, even. those 2 things will go along way at protecting your money.

luckily, where i live, the state does not put up with this crap. there's 2 rules to doing business here:
1) get their contractor number (or look it up; see below)
2) verify their insurance exists & is up-to-date

in fact, i can one-stop shop to this site [www.elicense.ct.gov] to make sure they're licensed (they suspend licenses for contractors without valid, in-force insurance coverage), but to be safe, i call the insurer as well.

@Con Seannery: I'd do it, but he won't let me climb the ladder anymore. Which, really, is a good life decision for both of us.

@gman863: Yes. Yes it is. :D

@gman863: I had a guy who cut down a large Red Oak in our backyard ($400, roped is all down and cut it into pieces, no heavy equipment. Good deal) leave a nice sledgehammer and 2 iron wedges behind. Odd fellow.

@SacraBos: Notice he never charges for his work. I like that. And Mr. Lopart needs to find a boyfriend.

ugggh! just a pet peeve of mine: ALL contracts are "verbal" contracts--"verbal" just means using words; you mean "oral" contracts.

@DAK: I've been using Service Magic. It doesn't have all the customer reviews like Angie's list but it's free and they pre-screen the providers.

@gman863:

There'a actually a name for this as a doctrine apart from "revenge," It's called "occult compensation," and while it's originally a Catholic concept, I still think it's pretty cool:
[www.newadvent.org]

@OminousG: Everyone knows Bob the Builder is shady. All of his business has been going to Handy Manny.

@msquier: Your last paragraph hits it right on the head. My parents needed some minor work done (closet widened, ductwork covered), and they hired our neighbor, who does contracting on the side. He does AMAZING work, and he charged them a reasonable amount.

As a warning, though: don't choose someone JUST because of word of mouth. Do a little research, and don't let your guard down as a result. People you know will still screw you over.

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): That's adorable. There are few things more endearing than people with a passion like that.

Definitely, definitely, never hire a contractor who goes door to door. My ex-husband is a contractor, and never did that. He got plenty of business from repeat customers and word of mouth. He was always willing to do small jobs like fixing a door knob or replacing a screen, so people would remember the kind of quality work he did when they wanted to do bigger jobs.

I'll add another tip. Never pay by the hour. That's a big honking red light. You should only pay by the job.

@katstermonster: True. I guess I'm biased because my dad never had any complaints other than some whiny suburban ditz who thought that just because she had his business card that he had actually done work to her house. She was claiming faulty electrical work when my dad NEVER even did electrical work to begin with; he was an HVAC/carpentry guy.

@msquier: We had some storms here over the weekend that downed trees. Apparently, one of our contractors was approached by a bunch of these shady door-to-door people. Informing them that you personally are a contractor gets them out of the neighborhood fast.

@RandaPanda: I have contractors go door to door whenever there is a big hail storm. I got into a serious argument last time with an out of state contractor that was going door to door because he insisted on going on my roof to see if there was damage and I told him no but he said he was still going to go just to be safe, at which point I told him to leave my property and if he went on my roof I'd call the police. The last thing I'm going to do is let someone on my roof and risk getting injured.

I got a beef with the last entry. Withholding payment without a waiver signed by a contractor is a open invitation for them to file a lien against your property. Liens usually take in between 3 months to several years to get cleared up, oftentimes escalated into court. Now if you do wish to withhold payment, do it with a lawyer countersigning it and have it sealed by a Public Notary.

@treimel: Wow, I was raised pretty strictly Catholic and I've never heard of that. You learn something every day.

That never happens to me. Darn it!

I've started checking out a new site: [www.bidmyreno.com] - it indicates if the contractors have insurance and I figure if the contractors have paid with a credit card to get access to my renovation projects, then there's a way to track them down.

*** note: I don't know if this site is just in Ottawa right now ***

@msquier: Heh, there's a Taylor Roofing in New Market, AL. Probably not the one you mean, but still cool.

This is a flawed post, but I can't blame Consumerist too much because they cribbed from a flawed newspaper article.

I fully agree with commenter wvFrugan: Lapsed licenses: BBB? WTF? That is no guarantee of anything. Also, contractors are typically licensed by the state, so don't call the 'local building inspector.' Call or visit the website of the state Department of Labor, or whichever other agency administers licenses in your state. You can verify that the license is in good standing and that the contractor has no past enforcement actions against them.

Likewise, the contractor should be licensed, insured, and, ideally, bonded. Bonded means that the contractor has posted a performance bond with the state. That means if the contractor fails to perform the work, for whatever reason, there will be compensation available to you. Many states also maintain funds to reimburse homeowners who are harmed by non- or underperforming contractors. The main catch is you must use a licensed contractor to be eligible for the fund.

As someone else mentioned, improperly 'withholding payment' can be risky for the homeowner. The nature and timing of payments should be completely agreed upon before construction begins. Generally, initial payments of 10% for long-term projects or 30% for short-term is reasonable. If the project is of any significant duration additional payments should be tied to specific benchmarks. Making the final 10% of the payment contingent on successful project closeout is pretty common.

Another critical item: lien waivers. You should get one from the contractor when you make payment. Although you may have a contract only with a general contractor, they are not the only ones entitled to file a lien on your property. If the GC fails to pay its subcontractors or suppliers any and all of those parties can file liens if you did not obtain a waiver.

One more thing: building permits. The contractor should obtain and pay for any necessary permits. If a contractor asks you, the property owner, to obtain the permit it is a huge red flag.

@SacraBos: Funny.....my sister hired a contractor named Bob, and we called him bob the builder all the time. Bro in law of someone she worked with. He did 2 good jobs, then took money to do a clean up job and disappeared. Great choice on the pic for this!