Quote:
Originally Posted by thumper
thanks everyone. if there is more out there please keep them coming.
i'm scared. i was on another message board reading horror stories. found one that was local (langley). homeowner paid cash under the table, no contract, and the contractors demo'd half the old deck and then went to do another job with promises of coming back to finish week after week, but in the end they left this guy with no deck all summer and a yard full of construction garbage and old lumber  |
There's no need to be scared.
The person in Langley could not have possibly made another single mistake in the way they conducted business. If a person is that flippant about a very serious business deal, they should expect the likelihood that it will become a horror story. It sounds like they were trying to do it as cheaply as humanly possible.
No legitimate contractor will request you pay cash under the table.
The paper trail protects both clients and contractors alike. It provides proof of payment for the customer should a contractor choose to not complete the job; and it provides proof of total payments made, should the contractor need to file a lien.
No legitimate contractor will do business with a new client without a contract.
A purely verbal agreement, sketch on a piece of paper, or what have you, means nothing should there be a dispute between the client and contractor. If a client expects a certain type of decking lumber to be used, but the contractor is using a different material, a contract outlining the materials and labour can resolve that dispute in minutes, versus the job imploding on itself. A contract is also required should a lien need to be filed, which is not all that uncommon.
If you have a contract, make staggered payments by cheque, and hire an insured contractor, the likelihood of running into a bad contractor is very slim.