How Builders Deceive Customers: Tips To Protect Yourself

Updated December 2nd, 2020

Repair of an apartment or house is a costly and time-consuming process. To save time and effort, the whole process, or a significant part of it, is entrusted to a team of craftsmen. However, if we let the process go on its own, it is possible to become a victim of deception and suffer serious financial losses. In this article, you will learn how to minimize the risks.

Carefully Choose the Contractor

Among the contractors offering repair services, there are many fraudsters — fictitious companies or false doubles of well-known firms. Their task is to get your phone. Then the contact is resold to the builders of not the best quality.

You can use the services and aggregators of private performers, which is becoming more and more. But you should not rely on the reliability of information in the profiles of foremen, too. Positive feedback can be just magnets, with which they try to get contacts of potential customers.

In order not to make a mistake in choosing a contractor through such services, you need to make sure that your order will get to the right place, and then you may book in Oakland Park. Try to get documentary evidence that the chosen contractor will work with you, not his relative or acquaintance. Ask real customer contacts and ask them about the contractor. If there are any suspicions, it is better not to cooperate.

Good firms and reliable professionals behave differently:

  • First of all, find out what result the clients are waiting for;
  • discuss in detail the scope of work, technologies, materials to achieve this result, and record in detail all agreements in the terms of reference;
  • conclude an official contract for a legal entity and are ready for non-cash payment;
  • calculation of the estimate is done on the basis of the design project;
  • not only give guarantees, but also confirm them with immediate actions (introduce the foreman, engineer, designer or other person who will control the work process).
  • have a website with the most complete and detailed information about activities and services;
  • insure their activities and risks to the customer and third parties.

What To Do

Examine the contractor’s contacts carefully. Besides the phone, there should be an address. Visit the office at the address given to make sure it is functioning and that the firm exists.

Read reviews at independent sites. Negative from defrauded clients, confirmed by documents, is a clear stop factor. But an unconfirmed negative can be left by non-paying clients or unfair competitors. How adequately company representatives respond to negative feedback is also an important indicator.

Find out what exactly you will get as a result of the repair and conclude a contract.

Give the right estimate. Make sure you get a low price estimate. Most likely, such an estimate includes only the main types of work, and any small and hidden types of decoration forgotten. And there are a lot of them: installation of doors, window sills, plumbing, finishing of window and door openings, laying skirting boards and moldings, garbage removal, and so on. Do not hesitate: when calculating you will be charged for everything.

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