Thinking About Updating Your Home?
Look Out for these Costly Home Renovation Scams
Renovating or updating your home can be a satisfying endeavor – particularly if you are customizing it to fit your specific needs and wants. Depending on the type and amount of work you are having done, the cost outlay could be substantial.
With that in mind, before you make high-dollar commitment to move forward, it is essential that you know which contractors and home renovation companies are legitimate and which are just scams that may take your money and leave you with nothing in return.
Some of the most common home remodeling and renovation schemes include:
- “Front-loading” the contract
- Vaguely-written contracts (especially in conjunction with low bids or cost estimates)
- Requiring the homeowner to obtain the permits
With a front-loaded contract, a contractor will ask you to submit a large amount of money up-front before they will begin any of the work. In some cases, your funds could be used for finishing another (unrelated) project that the contractor is behind on.
It is also possible that the contractor could disappear once they have the money in-hand. Each state has different down payment requirements and various contractor laws. So, make sure that you are familiar with these.
On the other hand, if the deposit requested seems unusually low, be sure that you know exactly what it is you’re getting because if the language in the contract is vague, you could find yourself handing over much more money down the road for items that you thought were included…but weren’t.
If you are asked by the contract to pull the necessary permits yourself, this could also be a red flag that the company you hired isn’t licensed and/or that their license has been revoked. In addition, whoever pulls the permits is the one responsible for any project failures and inspections.
Any type of renovation work that is taken on with your home should be done right. If you live in Central Florida and you’re considering a home renovation project, contact LP Design and Renovation at (407) 901-6215 or send us an email by going to https://lpinspiredrenovations.com/contact/. We’ll make sure your project is properly from the very beginning to the end.
