Graeme Wooden / Glacier Media – Aug 23, 2022 / 3:05 pm | Story: 381555
Picture: pixabay
House renovation scams stay persistent in B.C., routinely costing individuals hundreds of {dollars}, in accordance with the Higher Enterprise Bureau (BBB).
Simone Lis, president and CEO of BBB of Mainland British Columbia, says “fly-by-night” companies use high-pressure gross sales ways and demand upfront charges solely to ship shoddy work or no work in any respect.
“Owners ought to be additional cautious when hiring a contractor for his or her residence renovation tasks, provided that 69{c83b2c02332610f6c701e93e059ab5548f0d783545dff7079df6d2bfbe7c7877} of customers who encounter this rip-off lose cash, with a median common lack of $661,” stated Lis, in a press release Aug. 23.
“If you happen to rent the flawed vendor, you could possibly be going through a variety of issues from unfinished work and injury to your property, to shedding beneficial time and hard-earned {dollars},” added Lis.
A typical rip-off could embody the contractor soliciting their companies door-to-door. They provide bid guarantees and warranties that by no means come to fruition, famous the BBB.
House enchancment scams rank fourth in Canada for riskiest scams, behind cryptocurrency, advance price loans and on-line purchases.
BBB gives ideas for stopping such scams:
- Seek for a contractor’s BBB profile at BBB.org
- Search on-line for the corporate’s web site and profile. Inquire in the event that they belong to an expert affiliation that has a regular code of ethics.
- Inquire with that skilled affiliation for licensing and membership. The Business Coaching Authority can information you on certifications for every kind of labor.
- Ask for references from earlier clients
- Store round; get a number of quotes
- Get estimates in writing and guarantee a contract is written and understood previous to signing
- Make sure the contractor has insurance coverage
- Affirm constructing permits together with your municipality and have the native constructing official examine earlier than closing fee
- Inquire a few lien waiver
The BBB of Mainland British Columbia serves the Decrease Mainland, Thompson-Okanagan, northern, central and southern Inside, and the Yukon.
