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6 Keys To Home Defense

6 Keys To Home Defense constitute six critical steps consumers can take to investigate whether home contractors have consumer-friendly intergrity.


6 Keys To Home Defense

6 Keys To Home Defense constitute six critical steps consumers can take to investigate whether home contractors have consumer-friendly integrity. 

1. Search Engine

Although your favorite search engine or web browser is a practically unlimited data resource, it has not yet reached a stage of development which will answer this question: Is this home service company and associated contractor corrupt? These are a simple questions. However, in order for you to get the answer you’re seeking, as you know, you must be very specific in terms of what you would like to achieve. Therefore, when you’re web searching [searching your device], as with anything else you would like to learn in the search engine, accurately enter your question. Think like a detective. You can start this search to track down complaints using the name of the company and the real full name of the home service contractor. Most times, when there are published offenses in relation to the contracting entity, or individual associated it with it, that data should pop up.

2. Contractor Lookup - Statewide, County, or Parish

* When your device for contractor portals where you can validate whether the contractor you're thinking about is legally registered and/or licensed for the area where your project is locate, here are a few sources: 'Contractor Board,' 'Contractor License Lookup,' 'Contractor Licensing Board,' 'Business Entity Search' or 'Licensed Contractors. The browser you access via your device can sometimes immediately direct you to the area you need for validating the contractor portal in the area where the project is located.  If not that, it'll display leads to where else you can look. This is why it's always critical to specify in which state you would like to get the data. For example, if your property is in Nebraska,  specify that in your search. But please be aware that all tradespeople in the state might not be registered at the state level, but instead at the local level. You can then search there for any agency or department which can lead to the local contractor portal or listing of contractors.

*In other words, some states have statewide purview over home improvement contractors, others limit authority over home service contractors or tradespersons to the county or parish level [local]. Learn which is best suited for you through inquiring with your device. You might have to check with each one to locate the company. That's of course conditioned on whether it’s registered in your area.

*Also contractors who aren’t working regularly in your state, might not be found in that state or local registry. If instead if these outsiders are legally working in your state, county, or parish they should typically own credentials to prove it. They're not usually discoverable in state, local, or both databanks.

*If tradespeople are from out of state, it’s not recommended to risk the hire since they might not be working legally. If they are, they can be checked out via your state and local databanks. A visible work permit might not be enough since these can be easily forged. So, if someone presents it to you, you may want to read it carefully, and confirm the permit number with the local clerk's office or the building department. These days, this can be done virtually.

3. Contractor License Lookup

Generally, in the US, regardless of the kind of license issued it has an expiration date, and it has to be current. That includes contractor licenses. No doubt these are different from registrations in that they always have expiration dates, and they aren’t simply ‘contractor’ licenses. Quite the contrary, they define their category or the type of work they are licensed to do. Briefly, there are basically three categories of contractors:

General. These usually have teams of three or more contractors working with them.

Handyperson. He or she is usually an individual who has limited maintenance and repair skills.

Specialty. In this exclusive category are certified and/or carpenters, electricians, HVAC-R techs, interior decorators, plumbers, etc. Search your device. Look them up.

4. Contractor Insurance Lookup

Interestingly enough, if you’re curious about whether the contract firm has adequate insurance, but that information isn't provided among the licensure data, you might want to do one of these three options:

*Contractor Insurance Lookup. Make it easy on yourself since when you search using that wording, alone, it could be a waste of your time. But assuming the name of the company is ‘XYZ A2B,’ you can ask in the search engine ‘Is XYZ A2B an insured contractor?’ You can make the attempt to search whatever the company name of the contractor may be, and successfully locate the entity providing coverage for that contracting firm. You can use the same approach when you want to see whether the contractor who wants to work for you is insured by them. You also can inquire about the type of insurance coverage he or she has.

 *Business Records:  most states have a department or unit designated as Business Records or the equivalent. Search your device entering the full name of the contracting entity or individual contractor, using the county [parish] name, and the state where the work's slated to occur. Caveat: be certain there's a '.gov' in the link. Otherwise, you have landed in the wrong place. It has to be government. In the business records section you might have the option of entering the full name of the contracting entity or the full name of the contractor, alone. Some business records verification sources might not only confirm the contracting entity or individual contractor is registered, and licensed, but they'll also let you know whether the contractor of interest is adequately and actively registered, licensed, bonded, and/or insured. Others will only mention whether, besides being  registered, they're licensed. So, this is also a hit or miss approach depending on the state and county[parish] where the work is to take place. In most states, if you don't locate the contract firm or individual contractor in government business records of the locality where the work is to be performed, it’s very likely they aren’t authorized to do the work in that locality. But some states and localities are lax in this regard.

*Certificate of Insurance. The document provide a summary of a contractor's insurance coverage. Ideally, it should prove the contractors has coverage. However, these can be easily forged. You might need to ask the contractor to contact her/his insurer, and have a copy sent DIRECTLY to you to confirm before signing  the service contract, or allowing the contractor to work.

*Last resort: ask the contracting company or individual for the name of their coverage provider, and  the full name of the one who runs the contracting operation. If the contractor is that person, then be certain you  know that contractor's full name. Spell it correctly, then search to see if it checks out. It has to, otherwise you may've reached an impasse. Either the contractor [company or individual] proves having adequate coverage by some other official means, or you might consider looking elsewhere for the home project help you require. Hiring an uninsured or inadequately insured contractor can be detrimental.

5. Resident Feedback+

Foremost, you might want your initial preference to be for a contract firm which regularly does business in your immediate area, whether in your town, city, county or parish. It might be far better to opt for home service contractors nearest you who the folks in your neighborhood or overall vicinity are familiar with. Often you might not know about them unless you asked. If you notice a new roof, when you see the person who lives there you might want to ask about who installed it, especially if you need roofing repairs. Or when you see a company vehicle of a home service operation, and you anticipate one day needing that type of service, you might want to jot down the name. Then if you have time to search your device to check it out, why not? Better to learn as much as you can about it before connecting. It could save you hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of dollars if you learned the operation is rogue. 

6. Paying attention to what contractors do and say

Are you a careful listener? Are you really good at listening between the lines? Rather, do you have the intuition to assess what another person is saying while at the same time know you’re being set up for something he or she is not verbalizing? Does the tone or manner in which someone speaks often reveal whether this individual is being truthful? Are there phonetic inflections such as to convince you that you’re so fortunate to have found the right connection? Let us take this farther before getting to the core of the matter. How is it that our favorite shows whether live or digital can make us laugh, cry, shudder, fume, and so on when they are all make believe? In the moment of entertainment we are translated into an imagined realm of reality. There is a correlation to the effect that when you watch and listen closely being so impressed by the presence of a contractor, and by the polity and professionalism in that person's voice, you just know your hiring decision was impeccable. Perhaps not. Okay. Now for the clincher:  some of the kindest tradespersons you see are great performers, too. They have mastered the art of lying with a straight face. Be sharp.

By RB Roberts


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