The Importance of Hiring Licensed Contractors For Renovation Work
Too much construction and renovation related fraud takes place in the United States each year. It’s a shame because people could avoid these problems by hiring licensed contractors.
Buying and owning a home is likely your biggest expense. It’s a huge investment and you want to maximize that investment and get as much enjoyment out of your home as possible. Renovations are one way of improving the quality and value of your home. But if they go bad, if you run into an unscrupulous contractor, you could be in big trouble.
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 very often 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. 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.
Here’s some points to keep in mind regarding the value and importance of hiring license contractors for renovation work:
- Obtaining a contractors license isn’t easy. A minimum amount of experience is required and the contractor must pass a business management test. They may also be subject to a criminal history background check, and they can’t have any unresolved contracting complaints.
- Property owners can file complaints. If you’re using an unlicensed contractor you’re out of luck, but if you run into problems with a licensed contractor there’s a system setup for submitting complaints.
- Property owners can apply to the contractor’s recovery fund. Licensed contractors are covered up to $200,000, with a maximum payout per residential property owner of $30,000. So, depending on the problems, you may be eligible to recover some money to have work corrected or completed. For more information on the Residential Contractors’ Recovery Fund you can call (602) 542-1525 xt. 7730.
There’s a ton of great information available at the Arizona Registrar of Contractors website.
You’ll likely pay more for a licensed contractor, but the quality of the work should also be better. When a contractor has a license you know that they’ve put in a certain amount of effort in that area of expertise, be it working with flagstone, marble and granite or exterior barbeques and fireplaces. And that could save you a ton of frustration and money.
Infiniti Landscaping is licensed for all of the services we provide.
Get easy updates! Please subscribe to our RSS feed. You can also receive updates via email! Click here for details.
Tags: landscape renovations, licensed contractors, home renovations, phoenix, arizona
