A recent rash of arrests in South Florida surround individuals who are using a companies’ name or contractor’s license number to defraud the public who are looking for Hurricane protection or home repair.
In a story filed by The Miami Herald on June 4, 2006, Melissa Sanchez writes,
“The man Blank hired — John Sandlin — did work for National Roofing, the company a friend had recommended to her. But he was a salesman, not a licensed contractor. In March, BSO arrested Sandlin, 34, on charges of contracting without a license during a state of emergency, presenting the license of another contractor during a state of emergency and grand theft. The Broward State Attorney’s office plans to take him to trial in August.”
According to The Herald story:
“Another case in Davie, ended last week with the arrest of two unlicensed contractors who didn’t work for the roofing company they claimed to represent. The two men — David Marks, 38, and Gus Ranko, 39 — were charged with grand theft, operating as unlicensed roofers and exploitation of the elderly.”
How do you deal with this?
You can start by not being fooled by business cards, a company name on the truck, or polo shirts with logos on them. Yes, these are all marks of a legitimate business but they’re also easy for individuals to purchase on their own to use in ‘looking the part.’ The good news is that 5-10 minures and a couple of quick phone calls will flush out any Hurriance scammers. How?
Plan a quick call to the company after your estimate to make sure the ‘employee’ is legitimate. Don’t just trust the phone number on the business card, check it against the number listed in the Yellow Pages or Directory Assistance (411) to make sure you’re really calling who you think you are. Don’t stop there.
What other quick ways can you check the background of the individual and company you are considering working with?
- Check their contractor’s license with the state you are in. You’ll find a list at the end of this story.
- Call the better business bureau and check for complaints. You’ll find a link at the end of this story to search the BBB national database as well as a way to lookup your local BBB office.
- Use an online search engine to search on the companies and individual’s name/s (this is a great way to quickly catch individuals or companies that may have already been caught in another county or state).
- References. Ask for three references in the area and CALL them. Many people fail to ask for references and even more fail to actually check them. Check them! Make one of the references a trade reference. Reputable contractors and service providers do business with local building suppliers. If they’ve just set up business with these trade references you might do well to dig even deeper vs. a contractor who has had a relationship with an 84 Lumber for 10 years. What do you ask? A few simple questions gets you the information you need. a) Does the business know the company and individual? b) Have they had any problems with them c) how long have they had an account with the business?
And don’t forget to trust your gut and common sense. If something feels off why not listen to your instincts and just deal with another company? Even if they are a legitimate company the uneasy feeling you may have may just be a sign that they won’t be easy to do business with or won’t do a quality job.
Resources
Check a contractor’s license with the States from all over Hurricane Country:
Florida web site. Executive Director: G.W. Harrell 1940 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, FL 32399-1039 Phone: 850.487.1395
Georgia web site. Georgia Construction Industry Licensing Board 237 Coliseum Drive Macon, Georgia 31217-3858 Phone:(912) 207-1416
South Carolina web site for residential and commercial contractors.
Residential Contractors: Synergy Business Park Kingstree Building 110 Centerview Dr., Suite 306 Columbia, SC 29210 Phone: (803) 896-4696
Commercial contractors (commercial contractors can perform both commercial and residential work in South Carolina). Synergy Business Park Kingstree Building 110 Centerview Drive, Compliance Suite 102 Licensing Suite 201 Columbia, SC 29210 Phone: (803) 896-4686.
North Carolina web site. The North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors 3739 National Drive, Suite 225, Raleigh, NC 27612 Phone: 919 571-4183
Mississippi web site Phone: 601-354-6161
Louisiana web site. LOUISIANA STATE LICENSING BOARD FOR CONTRACTORS 2525 Quail Drive Baton Rouge, LA 70808 Phone: (225) 765-2301
Texas does not license general contractors but other trades are controlled by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation and you search different type of licenses from their home page here. In addition the Texas Attorney General has some good tips (even if you’re not in Texas) on how to protect yourself against home improvement scams.
Check with the Better Business Bureau for complaints against the company:
Search the national BBB site here.
Search for local chapters of the BBB from this page.
1 comment so far ↓
To whom it may concern:
To whom it may concern:
Yes my comment is this, all you hear about these days are the contractors who either stalled ripped off worded did shoddy work during the state of emergency with the hurricanes.
I am also a contractor in fl and have been for fifteen years. I want to make some people aware of all of the homeowners who ripped the contractors off and where is all the help for the contractor because I myself never took anything from anyone that I work for and I ended up with short end of the stick several times from the storms there’s not one organization that is on our side only about reprimands to the contractors>I do believe that there were some shady characters that had ripped the people off and do a disservice they get however what about the homeowners who begged for the contractor to help them get money data and completed the work under very hectic conditions completed the work and then stiff you for the money I myself can add up with very little thinking of about one job for 17,001 ,10,001 and one for 5000 there is no one interested in getting them only out to get the contractor. No one that’s right there is no one, yes you can put a lien on their property and you can do this and you can do that but in the long run there’s no help from anyone government organization that is all I had to say about this for now just food for thought
Sincerely
Scott Weymer
Weymer Builders
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