Perils of Not Hiring a Licensed and Insured Contractor

Some things never seem to amaze me. As I was watching the local news, there was a report of a couple that had contracted to have their roof repaired. They had given the roofing contractor quite a chunk of money up-front to perform the work. Now the roofing contractor did some work, but, after a few days, disappeared with the money and materials that had been purchased with their money. As the reporters were trying to help the couple recover their hard-earned money, they discovered that the roofing company didn’t have a license, no insurance to speak of, and, worse yet, this company didn’t even exist legally. The couple had mentioned that the quote they had received for the work that was to be done was about 25% lower than another company that had given them a quote from a man who seemed nice and knew what he was talking about. You know, there is an old saying, if something is too good to be true, it probably isn’t! A quote for repairs that is significantly below others should be a red flag, meaning you need to do some serious investigating to see why. In this case, the couple did no investigation and did not make any inquiries about the company they chose, and they ultimately paid a very heavy price.