[00:00:00] Eric Goranson: It is around the house with door-to-door salesmen, and I never buy anything that is installed at my house from a door-to-door salesman. I just don't. And sorry guys, it's just something that I don't believe in. It's something that, uh, has been a warning sign for me personally. Whenever I see a problem, many times it comes from the door to door salesman.

[00:00:27] Eric Goranson: So if someone's knocking on your door and they're. Going, Hey, I was just in the neighborhood and we're looking to do Welcome to Door-to-Door salesman, and you are usually talking to somebody that is paid to have a script. They don't know what they're looking at, they are not an expert, and they're trying to get your name and number When it comes to remodeling and renovating your home.

[00:00:49] Eric Goranson: There is a lot to know, but we've got you covered. This is around the house. Welcome to The Round the House Show. This is where we help you get the most outta your home through re. [00:01:00] Information and education. Thanks for joining us today. We've got a big show coming up here ahead, but before we get going on that, let's make sure and, uh, take care of the details.

[00:01:09] Eric Goranson: If you wanna find out more about us, head over to around the house online.com and, uh, you can find everything from our videos to all the podcast, to the radio show. Everything else is hiding over there at around the house online. Dot com. And don't forget our premium content. We're gonna be doing some, uh, exclusive episodes over there.

[00:01:27] Eric Goranson: They'll be able to catch here in the next week or two. So, uh, stay tuned for that. Well, I wanted to talk today 'cause this has been an ongoing issue out there and I wanted to really dive into the, the, how this happens and the why this happens. And this is my top 10 ways a bad contractor can scam you. Now, 95% of the contractors out there, in my opinion, are good, responsible people and they're trying to do the best for you.

[00:01:58] Eric Goranson: But just like any [00:02:00] segment of the population, there is that kind of criminal element out there. Or quite frankly, the ones that just get caught up in bad business practices and sometimes it's not something that is, um, That is criminal sometimes it's just, oh my gosh, it's the economy and they were not good at managing their business.

[00:02:21] Eric Goranson: And those are things you gotta be really careful with. And so I wanna talk about this today. Um, and it's a problem. It's a big problem. 'cause here's what happens, you know, all the contractors do really well out there. When the economy's good, they're built at homes, remodeling, there's a waiting list. But the problem is, and this is one of the biggest problems with contracting, Is that there is so much money coming in and outside of the organization many times that contractor really doesn't have a good grasp of where they're at out there.

[00:02:55] Eric Goranson: Could there be some big issues out there as far as having, you [00:03:00] know, too much, uh, cashflow problems that they don't even know? Because there's, they just don't have a good stopping point. And what can happen is, is when things slow down, they don't realize that they've been operating on what I call float.

[00:03:14] Eric Goranson: They have so much money coming in that the job that's getting currently wrapped up, they don't really know or they're not really looking at a job cost perspective to see if that job is profitable. They just have the next one coming and there always seems to be money in the bank account, but when the economy changes, things slow down.

[00:03:34] Eric Goranson: And this is when, especially home builders and people like that had no idea that they were bleeding out financially. And so maybe it's the big truck payment, maybe that uh, they lost their butt on a couple jobs and they didn't realize it, but nobody is going back and job costing and looking to see how much profit was in each job, and they just kept moving [00:04:00] 'cause they're busy.

[00:04:01] Eric Goranson: And this can be a big issue. So today we're gonna talk about some of those things. And that's, that's the good contractors that get taken down. And now we're gonna talk about some of the not so good ones and what happens first one on my list here? Uh, not being licensed bond and insured. Now this is a sticky subject and it's come up on social media.

[00:04:22] Eric Goranson: There are certain states that don't really have contractor licensing and when you have, don't have contractor licensing, it can be really tough. And it's surprising me in 2023. There are states out there that don't have this basic level of consumer protection and quite frankly, protection for the contractor as well.

[00:04:47] Eric Goranson: Here's the thing, when you have a, a full on, you know, contractor program for the state, it can be great. I mean, I will be the first to say, there's one of the few things the state of [00:05:00] Oregon does pretty decent here where I'm at, and it's a short list, trust me, but. They do have a good, uh, construction contractor's board that does a pretty decent job for a state run agency.

[00:05:12] Eric Goranson: Now, I can call up and say, you know, I'll make up a contractor name, a b c construction, and I can call up and say, Hey, um, I'm looking to hire a b C construction. What do you guys have on record? And they'll pull it up and say, Hey, you know, these guys have been around for 40 years. They've had two consumer complaints.

[00:05:32] Eric Goranson: Over the 40 years, and guess what? You know, that's really below normal for consumer complaints. So those guys are great. You know, they all check out all their stuff is good. They look to be a pretty decent organization. When you don't have any of those consumer protections, it can be a big problem. And this is where the fraud and all that other stuff, I mean.

[00:05:56] Eric Goranson: Here in my state, they have people actively looking [00:06:00] for illegal unlicensed contractors, and I'm good with that. I'm so tired of people skating around the rules and trying to be cheaper to try to go around good, hardworking contractors out there. And the ones out there that are working under the table, off the books, cash only, that kind of stuff.

[00:06:20] Eric Goranson: They're the ones that are burning the homeowners the most out there. So that's where. You gotta really have some issues. And where do you find those people? Um, boy, they're all over social media. I can tell you what, I can find some pretty poor contractors on Facebook marketplace. Um, next door is a haven for them hiding out, and it's usually somebody is on there.

[00:06:44] Eric Goranson: So here's the nextdoor, one of how to find illegal contractor and. Recently, I don't know how it is, was how it is now, but as of last year, the last time I talked to my state licensing board nextdoor would not give them [00:07:00] access to go after them. They were, you know, illegal contractors were pretty protected there.

[00:07:05] Eric Goranson: So as of a year ago, they were still blocking access for the states to be able to go in there and, uh, hold 'em accountable to state law, which is unfortunate because it's, um, it's a place they hide out. What happens is, is you'll see that illegal contractor will get a friend or wife or somebody else and say, Hey, I just had a, a great experience with, I'll make up a name John.

[00:07:27] Eric Goranson: And boy, here's the pictures, what he did. Really good stuff. And all of a sudden people think, wow, I'm gonna save some money. There's a guy working for cash, and guess what? The scam begins. And that's what happens on Facebook Marketplace next door. I see it all the time. It's one of those big ones right there.

[00:07:45] Eric Goranson: So, I'm really concerned about the states out there, and if you're living in one of these states that don't have this level of consumer protection, it's an issue and it's something that makes it harder for companies to, uh, get insurance when there [00:08:00] is no state licensing. I. And, uh, it can actually be something that costs you more money.

[00:08:04] Eric Goranson: 'cause it can just literally be the wild west. And uh, that's where I've got a big concern about that. But not being licensed bond insured, yeah, that's an issue. So as far as a consumer, what I want you to do before you end up going out there and getting going on that project, before you have the estimate, I want to call, find out if they have that license, bond and insurance and they're good.

[00:08:26] Eric Goranson: And second of all, The other thing that I'd like for you to do is to make sure that that happens on the day that you sign the contract. So when you sign the contract and you've said, okay, this is my contractor. Make sure that you've, uh, done your research, that their licensed bond and insurance is good of that day, and you've got a pretty decent chance that they're gonna be covered throughout that project.

[00:08:48] Eric Goranson: You will as a consumer. So make sure that you've got that. Make sure, and, uh, as I've said before, if you're a, a listener to the show, When you have this licensed bond insured, it [00:09:00] protects you. And then also make sure that they've got workers' comp insurance. If they have employees out there that are working on your job site or subcontractors or subcontractors out there, make sure that they are all covered by workers' comp.

[00:09:12] Eric Goranson: 'cause otherwise there is a chance that you, if they get hurt on the job site, could be their employer. Which means, uh, you can get fined for that and, uh, you might end up having to pay their medical bills because that injury happened on your property and that can be very expensive. If someone gets hurt, uh, uh, hurt badly and even worse if they get hurt.

[00:09:32] Eric Goranson: Permanently, uh, or worse than that. So you wanna make sure and protect yourself around the house. We'll, right back after these important messages. Don't.[00:10:00]

[00:10:08] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to The Round The House Show. This is where we'll get the most outta your home through information and education. Thanks for joining us today. Hey, make sure you check us out over around the house online.com and fi, Facebook and all those other places on social media. Make sure you are following us.

[00:10:24] Eric Goranson: We're gonna be doing a lot more here with, uh, social media in the coming months. So something to stay tuned to. So we've been talking today about the top 10 ways a bad contractor can scam you. And like we were talking earlier, there's many, many great contractors out there. I'm just trying to make sure that we don't have the bad ones.

[00:10:42] Eric Goranson: Trying to take your hard earned money. And, uh, when times get tough out there in the economy, this is when. These things happen the most. And so we're smack dab in the middle of that, especially with home building turning around. And this is where you really need to be careful. So we've been talking [00:11:00] right now about it.

[00:11:00] Eric Goranson: Uh, last segment we talked about not being licensed upon uninsured. The next one up here is not giving a detailed estimate out front. My biggest concern is when someone gets, you know, to get an estimate from a contractor and it says, kit remodel. $42,000. New cabinets, and it's a single page estimate. I'll be honest.

[00:11:23] Eric Goranson: I wanna see about five to 10 pages on a kitchen remodel project. I don't wanna see a single page because really to protect you, I wanna see every item on there. I wanna know that they figured out how much I'm paying per knob. I want to see what that's gonna cost me. I wanna see what their markup is on stuff.

[00:11:45] Eric Goranson: Here is my favorite way to find out and work with a customer as a contractor and a designer, which ends up helping him out the most. And so let me explain. What I like to do is I like, my favorite way of [00:12:00] doing business is for a contractor to say, Hey, I am going to go out and buy all your materials using my discount and my cost, and then I'm gonna mark it up 15, 20%, whatever that is.

[00:12:12] Eric Goranson: That is the way that you really are protected as a homeowner, because here's what happens. One, there's a flat markup fee, and two, the materials that that contractor is buying is now warranted under their warranty. And see, that's one of the little things that happens if your contractor says, Hey. You go out and buy all the materials.

[00:12:32] Eric Goranson: I don't wanna buy the materials. And then you get stuck because they're not responsible generally for those materials you are. So if they go install your brand new kitchen faucet and they put it in and you told 'em to put it in and that was a defective faucet, they can charge you if it's defective. The second installation, when they buy it, it's their problem.

[00:12:56] Eric Goranson: They have to manage it. Most people. That are sitting [00:13:00] there paying for someone to do the remodel, doesn't have time to sit around and be the parts runner. You're off at work, you're managing the family, you're doing whatever you're doing, but you don't have time to go, Hey, uh, that box was missing parts. You need to go find it.

[00:13:12] Eric Goranson: And that's what happens when you buy the materials. So that's one of those things that I really want you to make sure that that detailed estimate is upfront so you know what it is. 'cause one of the most common things that I see out of contractors that are bad, And this is how they compete against contractors or good, they will sit there and know that you have two estimates for a hundred thousand dollars.

[00:13:36] Eric Goranson: They're gonna come in and purposely give you a materials list that is missing the important things you need that were more expensive. So they'll come in and say, Hey, I'm gonna do it at 75. And you go, wow, 25% savings. This is amazing. You sign the contract, you start moving, you're going, everything's cruising.

[00:13:55] Eric Goranson: Then all of a sudden you get on the project and you're like, Hey, that's not the Baldwin [00:14:00] hardware I wanted on my cabinet knob. Oh, oh yeah, I missed that. No, no, I have just the off the shelf Home Depot stuff. You're like, well, that's a thousand dollars worth of cabinet hardware. Ah, sorry. Missed it. And then you start finding all of those things that that contractor missed.

[00:14:17] Eric Goranson: So I wanna see line item budgets. I wanna see all of that stuff figured out. Now here's the thing. This is an important one. I wanna make sure that you are not hung up on the free estimate as well, because I have no problem with a contractor sitting there and charging you a deposit to spend. 5, 8, 10 hours putting an estimate together for this to do this right.

[00:14:48] Eric Goranson: It takes time and I have no problem with them, with you paying for that front, and I would prefer to see accredited back at the job site later if they get the project. 'cause I [00:15:00] think that is an important one to make sure that you've got things taken care of, right? I wanna make sure that that contractor is getting paid, that they are covered and they, they are compensated for that.

[00:15:10] Eric Goranson: I think that's fair to them. So the free estimate is not a warning sign, but, uh, somebody that's paying for estimates and I get a very detailed one that is information that is valuable to you. And, uh, I'm okay with that. I don't have a problem with that, and I think it's actually a best practice for a contractor.

[00:15:28] Eric Goranson: Because they're gonna spend the time allotted to get you the information you need to make the decision. So that's a good one there. Now that's something I wanna make sure that you have dialed in. That's good to go next up on the list, third on the list, doing the next job on the float of other projects.

[00:15:46] Eric Goranson: And that's something that we've talked about in the past that I really wanna make sure that, um, that this is something that happens many times by accident. And that's one of the things that I'm really, really worried about. [00:16:00] So what happens is, and we talked about this in the first segment a little bit, is that this is a, your typical not scammer contractor.

[00:16:07] Eric Goranson: This is somebody that just has poor business practices and they're going through and they are floating. Your deposit check is paying to finish the last guy project and to get going on this one. And that's where these things go sideways. So be very careful about doing. The job correctly and watching for that float.

[00:16:29] Eric Goranson: Now, here's one thing that you need to be careful with, and this is one thing to be, to be asking for many times if a, let's say your contractor's ordering kitchen cabinets on credit, right? And so they're going down and getting that. Now, if that contractor doesn't pay the bill, you can get a lien on your house.

[00:16:52] Eric Goranson: And what happens is, is that maybe you paid the contractor $20,000 for the cabinet package, but they didn't put that towards the cabinet [00:17:00] package. They put that towards the last project they're finishing up, for instance, or making payroll or whatever. It's right. So this is what I want you to be careful with.

[00:17:09] Eric Goranson: Start asking to make sure that and understand what the laws are in your state. With liens and lien releases, what you wanna see is when those cabinets are delivered, you wanna make sure that you have a lien release in your hand. That shows that that was released and that they do not have the ability to lien because they have been paid for the cabinets.

[00:17:28] Eric Goranson: So take a look, understand the laws in your state, city, municipality, whatever it is, and make sure you understand what those lien laws are because that way you understand and make sure that's taken care of. And yes, you should understand this because sometimes you're gonna get a lien release in the mail and go, what?

[00:17:45] Eric Goranson: A lien release? What is this? Make sure that you understand what that is in your area, because it can happen where you write a check to the contractor for materials, they don't pay it, and then you get a lien on it. So you have to pay twice for that. So these are, these are [00:18:00] things before you get too far in the project, you wanna understand what a lien release is and how legally that protects you.

[00:18:08] Eric Goranson: So make sure you're there and that's understood. So that's all part of that, you know. Um, Paying for the materials. And making sure that that's understood and that's really helpful. Now the next one here coming up we're gonna talk about is an environmental one. And this one can be very expensive 'cause I've seen this turn into a disaster.

[00:18:29] Eric Goranson: We'll talk about that just as soon as around the house. Returns don't go anywhere.[00:19:00]

[00:19:08] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to The Round The House Show. This is where we help you get the most outta your home through information and education. Thanks for joining us today. We've been talking about the top 10 ways a bad contractor can scam you. And of course there's plenty more than 10, but we're gonna go down through the list here and, uh, just for all you contractors out there, we are trying to expose the bad ones.

[00:19:27] Eric Goranson: 'cause 95% of you guys out there are doing a killer job and you're out there doing the right thing. I am just trying to make sure that we cover. The ones that, uh, you know, are not so good, and that's the ones that I'm concerned about. Well, one of the biggest ones that I've seen here that has caused massive problems out there is not following the, um, rules for lead paint, asbestos.

[00:19:51] Eric Goranson: And if you're in a home 1978 or older, basically, um, you know, check with your local laws. But in most cases here in the United [00:20:00] States, you have to be lead paint certified to work on a house that's older. Now, a lot of these are e p, a federal government stuff that is either handled by the feds or by the local state or, or whatever, but know that you have to follow those rules in an older home.

[00:20:17] Eric Goranson: Now in my area here, for instance, and this is where it gets interesting. So again, you have to understand what your local laws are for the remodel. In my area here, if I order a dumpster for a remodel and that house was built before 2004, I need to have. Asbestos testing done on any drywall, flooring, glues, adhesives to make sure that it's covered.

[00:20:45] Eric Goranson: Yes. 2004. So a lot of people out there mix up the asbestos and the lead paint. They go, oh, as asbestos was done in 78? No, uh, asbestos was used in a lot of materials up through [00:21:00] 2004 and technically until this last year. It has still been legal companies just went, Hey, we're not gonna kill people out there with this, so we're gonna, we're gonna get it out of our system and not start and not use it.

[00:21:10] Eric Goranson: But asbestos has been a common building material and it's been on a lot of things. But what I've seen is, is, um, you know, companies coming in and not paying to have it abated when it needs to be removed in creating an environmental hazard for the homeowner. And for the people working at the landfill, because they are taking in their hazardous materials to the landfill.

[00:21:32] Eric Goranson: And so these are things that we don't wanna see happen. And these are things, I mean, I can tell you what I saw when the lead paint law first came into effect. I was in the Seattle area and somebody had a painter on their house scraping the outside of the house. They didn't really have tarps down. And the neighbor freaked out because some ships got over into their yard.

[00:21:55] Eric Goranson: They called the state. E P A shows up, they do testing, they [00:22:00] find lead in the ground, and now they had to come in and they find the painter and then they, they ended up having to pay. To get the yard and stuff removed around there that was contaminated. So they literally had to dig up flower beds and even in the neighbor's yard to do an environmental cleanup because of the lead paint.

[00:22:21] Eric Goranson: So these are things that you really need to make sure that those laws are being followed and that testing is done. Now there's less and less lead paint issues out there. 'cause guess what? People have been stripping it, putting new siding on. There's less and less of it as it goes, but it still doesn't mean that you don't have to test for it.

[00:22:39] Eric Goranson: So these are things that I'd really like to make sure that you've got that dialed in and that you're covered, because that's gonna make a huge difference on if you have to dig up a yard or something extreme like that. Nobody wants to deal with that, and you don't want to have the hazardous, hazardous materials floating around your house either.

[00:22:56] Eric Goranson: So these are things I want you to really be very careful with. [00:23:00] All right, the next one on the list here, which is, um, boy, this one's, uh, number six. Not installing things correctly around water, and I'm talking about, you know, the, one of the biggest offenders is that tub, shower, or shower system. Not installing that correctly.

[00:23:22] Eric Goranson: It is something that has been a problem for even good contractors is making sure they're not mixing materials, making sure they're doing a system, making sure they're doing it correctly. Uh, that has been a big issue. So I want you to understand before that shower goes in, that you understand what the layers of waterproofing is, what the warranty is, what kind of grout they're using.

[00:23:45] Eric Goranson: If that stuff is not spelled out for you, be very concerned. And so, uh, and the other thing is if I icy drywall going in behind a shower, unless it's a, uh, Unless it's one of those, uh, plastic glue on kits or something. [00:24:00] Basically, if I see drywall going in behind a shower, I am concerned that you have the wrong person on the job because in my book, um, there is no reason why anyone should be tiling over drywall in a shower.

[00:24:14] Eric Goranson: I. There's better products. It's, it's, you have so many things that can go wrong with water and make sure you've got that corrected. Now, it's the same thing when you go outside with windows and doors and siding, skylights. I wanna make sure that things are flashed correctly. Somebody building a deck, are they fastening it right?

[00:24:35] Eric Goranson: Are they flashing around there to make sure the water's getting kicked off, that you don't have water? Getting down on the framing of the deck that's protecting it. These are all things I wanna see you take care of to make sure it's taken care of. Again, just to reiterate this, I can't tell you how many times I have gone in and remodel and went, Hey, why is what's going on in here?

[00:24:53] Eric Goranson: You have high moisture content in your house. Well, 10 years ago I had my windows replaced by a [00:25:00] knock on the door contractor, and that's one right there that, um, that, uh, I just want you to be careful with because many times, We're going back in and having to reframe those walls and fix the siding and do that over again because you had a fly-by-night contractor, not waterproof, not flash, not do any of that stuff correctly.

[00:25:21] Eric Goranson: So these are things that I want you to make sure that you've got dialed in and it's understood what's going on. So that's a key one right there. Now, here's one of the biggest scam techniques. We'll talk about this. It's kind of a sidebar here on this, but it's really one of the biggest scam techniques that I've seen with door-to-door salesman, and I never buy anything that is installed on my house from a door-to-door salesman.

[00:25:46] Eric Goranson: I just don't. And sorry guys, it's just something that I don't believe in. It's something that, uh, has been a warning sign for me personally whenever I see a problem. Many times it comes from the door-to-door salesman. [00:26:00] So if someone's knocking on your door and they're going, Hey, I was just in the neighborhood and we're looking to do, welcome to door-to-door salesman.

[00:26:09] Eric Goranson: And you, you are usually talking to somebody that is paid to have a script. They don't know what they're looking at. They are not an expert, and they're trying to get your name and number so they can send somebody over to close the deal with you. Now if someone ever comes and knocks on my door and I do have a no soliciting sign, which is nice, but if someone's knocking on my door and they're saying they were just quote in the neighborhood doing another job and they wanted, unless they're next door and you're waving at 'em and there's having a conversation, no, do not stay away from it.

[00:26:46] Eric Goranson: Uh, there's always exceptions to that rule, but I'll be honest, there is just one of those things that, uh, I've never had a good experience and many times I have been dealing with fixing these problems from somebody going door to door. And, [00:27:00] um, I tell you what, there are more people out there that are doing it, and you're gonna see that more often now, now that, um, money is tight and that people are having a hard time getting loans and things like that, and interest rates are high.

[00:27:11] Eric Goranson: You're gonna see more people going down this road as far as contractors. So be very weary. Any of those. And then the other one too is, is the high pressure sales technique. And there are companies out there that are really good at this, and foundation companies are one of 'em where they sit down and say, okay, this is gonna be a $60,000 job.

[00:27:34] Eric Goranson: Your house is falling down around you. Fear, fear, fear, fear, fear. They throw fear at you. And then say, if you sign today, right now, before I leave, I'll give you 20% off. If they are trying to leverage a sale upon you signing the same day of the estimate, and they're trying to get you to not. Have a family discussion of what you have going on or to get another estimate, [00:28:00] that is another warning sign that I want to be very careful with of how I move forward, because that is not in your best interest as a consumer, and when they're trying to push that sales process too fast and too far, that's a concern of mine.

[00:28:15] Eric Goranson: So I want you as a consumer to be able to do that research and understand what's going on. And make some thoughtful decisions on what you're doing. Be very careful of that high pressure sales person that's coming over if they're putting the screws on you. Be prepared and think twice about doing business around the house.

[00:28:35] Eric Goranson: We'll be right back after you support messages. Don't go anywhere.[00:29:00]

[00:29:03] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to The Round the House Show. This is where we hope to get the most outta your home through information and education. Thanks for joining us today. We've been talking about the top 10 ways a bad contractor can scam you. And as we know there's a lot of great contractors out there and just wanna make sure we're not bagging on the good ones out there.

[00:29:20] Eric Goranson: 'cause most. 'em are great. So that's what the issue is today. So we've been going through the list and I wanted to get it wrapped up. We got a lot to go here, so I'm gonna keep talking about the rest of my top 10 list here. Number seven on my list here is not giving you a construction and payment schedule.

[00:29:37] Eric Goranson: This is something that really needs to be visited in that contract. I wanna see. Exactly at what points you make progress payments. Is it weekly, monthly? When is it? Because so many bad things happen when that's not documented of when people should be getting paid and what those benchmarks are. And then at what point do they, you [00:30:00] know, get a project complete.

[00:30:02] Eric Goranson: So you wanna make sure that at, at you have benchmarks where, okay, it's a kit model at, uh, cabinet installation is one point. At, uh, completed countertops and other, you see what I mean? Whatever that needs to be, make sure that that gets defined out so you understand when and where those payments need to get made.

[00:30:22] Eric Goranson: That way there's no debate and there's no argument down the road. That way you're also providing them a clear time when they get paid, as well as how, what has to be done so they can get paid. So usually this will push things along and keep it on schedule. And that's a key to working with construction is keeping it on schedule and making sure it's done correctly.

[00:30:44] Eric Goranson: Next up here, here's a problem that I see that runs into some serious issues, having people that are working on the job site, that are under the table or on a cash basis. And I saw a contractor that I was working with, um, and this can even be [00:31:00] down on you as a homeowner. This is where the problem goes. I had a contractor that was working on a, um, let's call it a troubled homeowner.

[00:31:08] Eric Goranson: And this homeowner, uh, who is kind of a hot mess to be honest. Uh, had some, uh, day laborers working around the house outside of the remodel. I. And this can burn a contractor. And I watched this contractor spend thousands of dollars trying to defend themselves in something that wasn't their fault. So they hired this person from a temp agency or whoever to come out there and work.

[00:31:32] Eric Goranson: And I think they were just somebody that they hired. I. On a cash basis. Well, that person came out and started doing the work and at one point they asked the contractor if they could put some stuff in the dumpster and they went, sure, yeah, they're paying for it. You can go ahead and put stuff in the dumpster.

[00:31:50] Eric Goranson: Because they had directed that person that they could put stuff in the dumpster when this person later in the day got hurt. That showed [00:32:00] up on the contractor's workers' compensation insurance, and it was the employee of the homeowner. So these are things you gotta be really be careful with as a contractor and as a homeowner.

[00:32:12] Eric Goranson: Um, I don't want to see anybody else working on a job site. When a contractor's doing a remodel that is a cash basis person, whether it's the contractor or anybody else, everybody on that job site needs to either be a self-employed, you know, worker. As they're the company owner or if they have employees, those employees need to have workers' compensation insurance and need to be on the payroll.

[00:32:36] Eric Goranson: So make sure that's happening for you. So that's a big one right there. Next up is not pulling, building permits and not getting final inspections. These are things that will burn you down the road. So let's say you get a kit tree model, a contractor says, oh, I don't, I'm not gonna pull a permit. We're gonna be okay.

[00:32:55] Eric Goranson: And things are done there that need to be taken care of. That should have been [00:33:00] ins, you know, inspected. The problem you can run into is one, if the contractor does do the right thing and go pull the building permit, and then down the road doesn't actually go get it signed off and finalized, that's gonna show up as an open permit.

[00:33:15] Eric Goranson: The problem is if you go down the road and go to do a remodel again, and we had this, and I've talked about in a previous episode, but we ended up trying to do a kitch remodel that that, um, couldn't happen because of the addition that was done by this major contractor. And of course there was no way they could get that thing knocked out because what happened was is that, uh, it was never finalized and had to be brought up to new building code.

[00:33:39] Eric Goranson: So that's a huge issue when you have to get something up to code. And they were gonna have to tear down part of the structure as far as on the interior. It was not insulated to 2022 building code versus 2015 when they did it. So these are issues that can really send things sideways when all I needed to do was [00:34:00] have an inspection to have it wrapped up and whatever caused that issue to happen.

[00:34:04] Eric Goranson: So this is kind of a can of worms if you're gonna do the building permit route, which I think you should. If you are, you need to walk that all the way through the process. If it's not something that's required in your area, then it's not a big deal. But the building permit is just keep in mind, it is there to protect you and health, safety, welfare.

[00:34:24] Eric Goranson: So that's the big thing. It's there not to talk about quality of craftsmanship now, generally not. But it does say, Hey, that we've had an engineer, look at this. Uh, this is framed correctly, the electrical's done, the, you know, all of those things are done correctly. So that's where that protects you as a homeowner because you know it met those minimum standards because it was inspected.

[00:34:46] Eric Goranson: So something to think about with that, that if you're going down that road, make sure you go down that road and finish it all the way. That's another one that's very expensive. Now the other one that I've seen that's been a [00:35:00] massive problem out there is that you've got somebody that is a contractor. They end up doing all the other skilled trades things really poorly when they were supposed to have people that were licensed, bonded, insured.

[00:35:13] Eric Goranson: Now he might be licensed, bonded, insured, but many times in many states, a plumber or an electrician or an HVAC professional is actually licensed through the state or local or however that works in your area. But my point is, is that that remodeling contractor is not a plumber, but did all the plumbing work.

[00:35:34] Eric Goranson: That can be a big issue because now all of a sudden you have someone doing a trade that they were not trained in and it might not meet building code. So make sure that your electricians are doing the electrical work, your plumbers are doing the plumbing work. I would really like to see if you're doing a bathroom, that you've got both of those trades in there.

[00:35:56] Eric Goranson: I want to see a tile professional in there that [00:36:00] is doing the tile installation. So if it's just a little floor, that's one thing, but if you're doing a shower system or something like that where there's water involved, I wanna see a certified tile professional in there taking care of that. And that's key right there, guys, making sure that you've got the right trades.

[00:36:19] Eric Goranson: The right part, you know, so you can do that because I tell you what, I see more issues because somebody did it wrong and it got missed during an inspection or something like that, or there wasn't one. So spend the time, make sure you get it dialed in, and then do the research to make sure you're not getting scammed and that you've got the right people in there.

[00:36:41] Eric Goranson: I've seen so many jobs recently where somebody who said they were a professional decided to do the plumbing. I guarantee you, one, it wasn't inspected and I guarantee it wasn't a plumber either. So these are all things I want you to make sure and get taken care of because this is your hard-earned money, [00:37:00] right?

[00:37:00] Eric Goranson: And these are things I want you to see if you can get taken care of so you're not wasting that money because, I have too many people I know right now that are getting projects redone because they brought the wrong people on the job. And, uh, I just wanted to see if we could get out a really good public service message to everybody on how to hire a contractor and what the bad ones are doing to take your money away from you and, uh, without a care to what's going on in your home.

[00:37:26] Eric Goranson: So guys, my best advice out there is to do your research on the contractor, get multiple bids. Find out what you're doing and don't take the pressure to get a deposit for a discount or something like that. That, to me, is a big concern. So use, uh, use all these tips wisely and, uh, make sure that, uh, you're covered up.

[00:37:47] Eric Goranson: And, uh, you, I, I don't wanna see you lose money, and I don't want, you have to do a project twice. So that's the, that's my tip of the day. There is just take the time, go through the steps, and it should work out correctly for you [00:38:00] and, uh, you know, if, if you don't have contractors licensing in your state, Start asking your representatives why those consumer protections aren't there because, uh, I think you really need it.

[00:38:11] Eric Goranson: Uh, that should be in every state of the union here. Uh, and, uh, that is your place as a citizen in that area if you don't have it to push and get it done. Alright, everybody, well couple more things. If you wanna find out more about around the house here, head over to. Around the house online.com, take a look.

[00:38:28] Eric Goranson: We're gonna have some new, uh, section to the website coming up here soon. Might even be up at the time this radio show airs or podcast airs. We're gonna have a bunch of new projects section in there, so it'll be something for you to take a look at and that's gonna be a ton of fun. All everybody have a great rest of the week.

[00:38:44] Eric Goranson: If you wanna find out more, head over to around the house online.com and uh, contact me over there as well. And coming up next in the next hour. We're gonna be talking about why remodeling has gotten to be so expensive. Why new home construction? [00:39:00] Has gotten to be so expensive and what can we do with affordable housing to see if we can get that turned around because there is so much going on out there and there are multiple causes of this and some of it is preventable, and I want to talk about that stuff to see if we can get more people in housing.

[00:39:18] Eric Goranson: And, uh, I'm not talking about the house lists and I'm gonna use air quotes there issue, but really trying to get people that are out there working into homes that they can afford. We'll do that just as soon as around the house returns