If you are a homeowner wanting to pull the trigger on getting your bathrooms to be remodeled, these are the 3 biggest scams revealed so you have the upper hand on crooks who take advantage of homeowners like yourself!
Who we are here at Twin Home Experts
Twin brothers David & Jim Schuelke have been in the home service business for over 27 years and we are seeing more and more customers getting taken advantage of when it comes to their bathroom remodeling projects. We wanted to expose these scams to help you protect yourself & your hard-earned money, more importantly, give you the upper hand before you hire your next contractor to remodel your bathroom.
SCAMS TO BE AWARE OF AND HOW TO NOT GET BURNED:
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1 Don’t give a 50% deposit
Homeowners are getting burned by contractors because they are giving way too much of their hard-earned money upfront. This is a HUGE red flag if a contractor is asking for a 50% deposit.
A case study from our experience:
Our customer Michelle in Salt Lake City, gave her contractor $40,000.00 upfront as a deposit on bathroom remodeling work, the contractor did about $8,000 of work then took off with the rest of the money and never came back to finish!
What to do to protect yourself from these bathroom remodel scams.
Make sure you have a detailed payment schedule within the contractor’s contract spelling out the payment schedule, and more importantly you only pay when things or materials are being delivered.
Example:
Upon completion of demolition $2,000.00
Upon the arrival of plumbing fixtures $3,000.00
Upon completion of tile $4,000.00
Notice how each payment is upon completion? This is huge protection because if the contractor decides to bail on you, you are NOT out any money.
If your bathroom contractor is unwilling to agree to these terms, then you need to find someone else most definitely!
# 2 – “Uh oh you have mold and we have to STOP! Dangerous to our crew health”
This is the most common scam that seems legit but is often rigged to pull money out of you because they have your bathroom torn up and know you’re vulnerable.
How to Protect Yourself from Someone Pulling This Sort of Scam.
If you hear this from your bathroom contractor make sure you don’t react. Just stay calm and state ‘Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Can you show me?’
Have them show you, you can see for yourself if you have a serious problem or nothing at all.
Red flag: if the contractor says, we have a company we work with that can come out, simply say no thank you.
You then have 2 options when your bathroom remodeling company states you have mold:
Go to Home Depot and buy some Concrobium and spray down the affected area really well, then wipe down. Or you can call a mold remediation company to provide you an estimate. Do not use the contractor’s recommended vendor as it’s usually part of the companies way to get you out of more money.
Fact: To protect yourself even further, can have the contractor add to his contract: in the event there can be mold found, it is provided there will be remediation.
# 3- “We’re Bringing subcontractors” that do shotty work
We are seeing more horrific workmanship at customers’ homes because the contractor who sells a job is sometimes there to simply take your money, then subcontractor it out to someone else who ends up showing up to your home and doing horrible work.
How to Protect Yourself from Companies Who Simply Subcontract
This is why it’s important to hire a very reputable bathroom contractor near you.
They should have over 200 reviews, been in business for over 10 years, and have licenses and insurances to do all the work. Make sure they show you copies of their insurances and work comp policy as well.
You can even ask your bathroom contractor to add you as an additional insurer. This gives you that extra protection in case there is an accident.
Twin Twip: Make sure especially if it’s a big bath project, to check to see if they have a $15,000 bond in place.
Conclusion
We truly hope this helps protects you and your family from the challenges and crooks in the bathroom remodeling industry. We truly feel we have an obligation to give back to our community to offer our contribution and gratitude to all the support we have had from the communities that have kept us in business for 30 years.
You can always contact us for a second opinion or talk to one of the twins by clicking here and filling out our form.
