I've sold Real Estate since 1991, that's nearly 30 years. I've learned some things.

Every one of us knows at least one person with a nightmare contractor or renovations story. Admit it.

With some excerpts from Realtor.ca in the business I am in along with my own input, here are ideas how to :

1/ Protect yourself before it happens

2/ Deal quickly if problems arise and minimize losses, costs, and stress.

You have to take authority of the situation. Here's how.

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Here are some steps to take to persuade that contractor to come back and finish what they started.

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Review your contract.

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“Before you lash out, scrutinize your contract,” advises one attorney. He notes that when you’re warming food on a hot plate and living out of a cooler or mini fridge, it may seem like the builders are taking too long with their renovations, but they might actually be within the time frame you originally agreed upon.

What? You don’t have a contract? What were you thinking?

They’re called contractors for a reason. In fact, a big red flag would be a contractor who's willing to start a job without a written contract—even if he’s related to you. Job specifics, length of time, and quality and cost of materials should all be specified before the first hammer swings. But fear not. All is not lost if you failed to sign on the dotted line. Legal opinions say a verbal agreement may be legally binding if you have a 3rd party witness.

Legacy Payments.

Simply put -- money is paid to the contractor every time they reach and agreed upon milestone in the work. You would be surprised to see how effective this is... and also how many people don't use it. I have used it in my own renovations to great success.

Get the job done.

Once you’ve determined that your contractors are nearing the agreed-upon time limit and you haven’t seen their smiling faces in a long while, the first step is to send a friendly but firm message—by phone, text, email, or all three—asking them to please come back and finish the work they’ve agreed to do. If you get no response, it’s time to start legally covering your bases.

“Send them a registered letter that requires a signature, giving them ‘notice to perform to the terms of the contract,’” advises one licensed contractor in California. “A registered letter usually shows them that you need to be taken seriously, and 90% of the time they’ll come back.”

Another tactic a homeowner found useful to persuade a contractor to come back to finish her deck was to mention the possibility of posting an unflattering review on Angie’s List, or similar site where she’d found the contractor in the first place.

“I’d hate to be forced into writing a negative review about you,” she told him calmly, “because I know how important that site is for you finding business.”

You can also mention you’d be inclined to post negative reviews on your local Better Business Bureau website

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Escalate.

If these tactics fail to get you the desired results, it’s time to step it up.

Send a 2nd registered letter informing the contractors that if they don’t finish their work within a given amount of time, say, 10 days, their contract will be terminated and you will contact their bond /insurance company. This is the third party typically required by contractor licensing agencies that, in the event that a contractor flakes, will offer you full compensation. It’s easy to find the bond company by looking up your contractor on your local licensing board’s website or similar resource.

“Contractors cannot stand it when you mess with their bonds,” says another contractor. In some areas, a contractor can’t be licensed without being bonded, so you could be threatening their livelihood.

Fire them outright:

This won't get your work done in a timely fashion, but at least it will clear the way for someone else to step in and finish the job. Be advised, however, that you must be able to show that the contractor is in clear breach of the K, and have well-documented instances of those breaches, or the contractor could take you to court and put a lien on your property, claiming that you’re the party in breach of contract.

Get your money back.

These options are great if you just want your project finished. But if you’ve paid the contractor ahead of time and you want the money back for materials that weren’t delivered and services that weren’t rendered, that’s a whole other ball game.

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Try these steps from yet another contractor who specializes in renovations:

• Request a hearing: If your construction K. contains a binding arbitration clause, this is a relatively low-cost process in which a neutral party or arbitrator makes a final decision about the issues.

• Go to small-claims court: This is fine if your claim is a small one. Many places limit small claims to a range of $3,000 to $10,000

• State you will, or make a claim with the contractor’s bond company: As previously mentioned - the simple mentioning of this approach could clear up the problem.

• Hire a lawyer : This may be your last resort, because most lawyers are expensive. You'd have to be suffering major financial loss to make it worth paying up to $3-$400 per hour for legal services. If it’s a good lawyer, though, and you have a real case, this is one of the surest way to get compensation. You may be able to find a qualified local PARALEGAL for less money to help but they are not lawyer's. That could be a good option.

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Image Credits:

OmniSearcn.uk
PacificGreenHomes

My outsourced SM company I've had for years had this posted for me today to verify it was directly on my account there: http://cb1.so/a/hmgn4d
( article content edited via a BlogPost from Realtor.ca from my Social Media feeds earlier in the day. )