Hiring a questionable contractor may come with risks, experts say

Home repairs and renovations are expensive. To lower costs, 1 in 3 homeowners are willing to hire a contractor with holes in their resume. 

About 33% of surveyed homeowners say they’d consider hiring a contractor with a questionable reputation to save money, according to a new report by Clever Real Estate, a housing data site. 

Generally, homeowners say reputation is the most important factor when hiring a contractor (25%), followed by experience (23%), cost (19%), personal recommendations (13%), availability (11%) and estimated project timeline (10%). Clever polled 1,000 U.S. homeowners mid-August regarding their choices when it comes to renovations. 

That contractor trade-off might end up being more expensive in the long run, experts say. A questionable contractor is “someone who isn’t exactly honest with the price, may be overestimating their skills, doesn’t do high quality work, or simply doesn’t show up for the project,” said Jamie Dunaway-Seale, author of the Clever report.

“That’s someone that you want to potentially avoid,” said Angie Hicks, co-founder of Angi, an online contractor marketplace. “I would rather take someone newer to the industry than someone that has a questionable reputation.”

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The risk of contractor fraud also increases in the aftermath of a natural disaster, said Loretta Worters, a spokeswoman of the Insurance Information Institute.

“A lot of times, these people swoop in, claim they’re going to do something for you, and they take your money and leave,” Worters said. 

The Justice Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a warning to consumers on Wednesday about potential fraud, price gouging and collusive schemes after natural disasters.

“You don’t want to turn a bad situation worse,” Hicks said.

Here’s what to consider when hiring a contractor.

Analysts anticipate that Hurricane Milton could be a “once-in-a-century” storm with the potential to generate record-breaking damage as it makes landfall along Florida’s west coast on Wednesday or early Thursday. 

As homeowners juggle insurance claims and recovery efforts from back-to-back storm aftermaths, one thing to keep in mind is who to hire as a contractor.

You “really need to be careful” about contractor fraud, as you could be “victimized twice by the storm and by the fraudulent person,” Worters said. 

Roofing is one of the more common trades that you would have to hire for after a hurricane, Hicks said. 

“A roof is something that’s going to last for 20 plus years,” Hicks said. “You want to make sure that you are working with a reputable local company who’s going to stand behind a warranty on that work as well.”

While it’s a really difficult time, it’s important to do the due…