Consumers BEWARE: 90% of contractors advertising in craigslist are not licensed!

  We all know by now and would agree, craigslist.org is an exceptional and free website to advertise or sell. I advertise my business on craigslist, just for the simple fact that it's free and I appreciate anything you can get for free in this bad economy. I usually renew my ads every 10 days and over the past year, maybe got as many as 3 or 4 decent leads, which aren't bad for free advertisement, so I'm not "anti-craigslist".

 As with any good thing, there are always the shady people who creep in and mess it up for everybody else...in my territory it's the unlicensed contractor.

   My eyes were opened to this because some, "friends of a friend", thought they would save a load of money and hired  "contractors" through craiglist to do some renovations and additions to their home. They of course, thought they hit the jackpot by finding these "professionals" who claimed they had been in business for years and bonus... they only wanted 12 bucks an hour. Well, you can see where this is going...a whole other story could be written just on that! Dozens of no-shows, more shady characters, numerous code infractions, tear-the-wall-down-and-do-it-overs, etc. etc. A 4 month project turned into a year and still going, the last I heard.

 So...when I heard this horror story, I started investigating the craigslist contractor ads, just in my territory, checking license numbers, etc. I was amazed the farther I started to dig into this, the more red flags kept popping up. Some numbers I ran were just random numbers, some bogus, some were numbers from a different states and not even associated with their trade. Some contractor license info at the bottom of the ad was even checked "unlicensed".

  Please understand, if a person has been in business for 20 years and just never bothered to get licensed...something is wrong. Either they can't get licensed due to arrest records, etc. or they are non-skilled, semi-skilled workers at best, moonlighting a legit company, flying under the radar. If something goes wrong, your deck falls down, roof caves in, new driveway cracks, newly built foundation leaks, and you try to hold them accountable for the damages...forget it. The unlicensed, do-it-cheaper, contractor, can't be found. Are you really saving money? The news stories you see of homeowners who got taken for a ride by a home improvement company, will always involve an unlicensed contractor. Fact: Building code is the absolute minimum accepted construction standard. Someone who isn't licensed doesn't even know or understand building code. They think it's all just "red-tape" and it'll be fine without it. They are wrong!

You've been taught all your life the old saying, "You get what you pay for." and it always hold true. Compare apples to apples when getting bids for your project.

The "Jack-Leg" contractor does not care about you or your safety.

This picture is a newly built deck, obviously not built to the minimum building code requirements...by an unlicensed contractor of course. Guess they never bothered to learn that the leading cause of deck collapse in North America is due to some type of ledger board failure. As you can see on the above picture.

Why should I hire a Licensed Contractor?

There are certainly a lot of contractors listed on the Internet under home renovations, remodeling, painting and handyman services; however, in order to choose the right contractor for a homeowners project, the homeowners need to know if the contractor actually has the expertise to do the specific project they are bidding before making a final decision on whether to hire them or not. The cheapest is not always the best choice. If one contractors estimate is way less than the others, this should always throw up a red flag. There must be some reason, usually a very big reason, they seem to come out 25%-40% under the other estimates. It usually means they are unlicensed, uninsured, don't pay taxes and worst of all, have to take shortcuts in order to meet their low price and still make a profit. 

One of the major considerations for hiring a contractor should be if they are licensed or not. There are several reasons why a homeowner should go with a licensed contractor over a contractor who has no licenses...

-Licensed contractors are usually licensed by the state they are located in and will have to complete a number of courses or training and continuing education in order to obtain and maintain a license for their business. A licensed contractor typically means that they know what they are doing and will take better care when conducting business in and on a homeowner's property.

-A licensed contractor will signify to a homeowner that they care about their clients and their property. That they took enough time to become licensed or obtain insurance, which in most cases is a long process of paperwork, training, proving assets, proving knowledge in their fields, understanding building code requirements and understanding the guidelines of their crafts. This shows homeowners that they are not some 'fly-by-night' operation.

-Another consideration to make about a licensed contractor is that they are usually required to carry some form of insurance, mainly liability and workers compensation in case their employees damage a homeowners property or if their employees were to be injured on the job these types of insurances would cover any costs associated with these types of accidents. Most homeowner's insurance policies will not cover accidents or errors that happen due to the negligence of a construction company or someone working on a homeowner's house. 

-Hiring a licensed contractor may also mean that the price might not be your lowest estimate. This is not always a bad thing. Hear me out...I can almost always beat another reputable, licensed contractors estimate by at least 10%. This is because I've had many years of experience of trimming my overhead down to a minimum operating cost, so that I can offer top quality service at very reasonable prices. I'll not give away all my trade secrets but one way I'll reveal is just a common sense approach. I've personally found it's better to hire a few highly skilled laborers that know their field inside and out rather than a plethora of average, not-so-skilled workers, that don't show up for work as they should and waste a lot of time when they do work. Higher skilled, higher paid workers generally have better attitudes, more trustworthy and are able to comprehend the project quicker and perform faster, which saves everyone money in the end. 

Knowing that a contractor is licensed to operate and conduct the type of business that a homeowner is looking for gives homeowners' peace of mind. They know that the contractor they have chosen is reputable and will conduct their business in a professional manor and will know what they are doing so that the homeowner will not be wasting their time or money on a company that will not get the job done right the first time.  A licensed contractors credentials can be checked easily by contacting the state board that issued their license. The licensed contractor is governed by that  board and must answer to that board should a complaint get filed against them for misconduct. We've all heard the horror stories of an unlicensed company doing unsatisfactory work, takes the money and runs, then the homeowner who thought they were getting a great deal, can't find them and has no way to make them correct the work or return any of their funds.

Many people don't realize that getting a contractor license isn't as easy as just taking a weekend seminar and buying a license to hang on the wall. I've spent numerous hours (months actually) studying, training, testing, continuing ed., having to obtain letters of recommendation from other licensed contractors who trusted my abilities, prove financial assets and liabilities and then submit all this to the NC Board of Licensed General Contractors, BEFORE they would issue my license in general contracting. I still have to take so many hours of continuing ed. and resubmit my credentials yearly before Dec.31 in order for my license to renew. It's not just a one time thing.

The challenge for property owners is to not go instantly for the lowest price. It’s appealing; you’ve already spent a ton on your home and you don’t want to keep putting a ton of money in, but 9 times out of 10 the cheapest price is from an unlicensed contractor. They’re not bonded or insured, and they don’t have to pay into the residential contractors’ recovery fund or pay any unemployment compensation for their workers, etc. Simply put: their costs are lower so they can offer cheaper prices. Saving money looks great on paper, but when the trouble starts and the work is shoddy, you’ll end up spending more and being far more frustrated.

Hiring a licensed contractor helps protect against construction fraud. The licensing system is designed to protect property owners, particularly residential property owners.

The decision is yours.