Article in the New London Day states that in Bristol CT a 4-month investigation has led to criminal/civil charges against scores of unlicensed home-improvement contractors. The CT Consumer Protection Dept (which issues the licenses) announced that 71 contrators had been caught in a sting, either operating without a license or violating the state’s Home Improvement Act.
The CPD used a small, cape-style house in the investigation (house provided by DOT.) Contrators were invited to come bid on various projects involving roofing, siding, remodeling, or other home improvements.
I guess the moral of the story, get a license or you may find your profile hanging on the Post Office wall along with the FBI’s 10 most-wanted list.
Replies
good i wish they would come and do that in my area-central california coast.im sick of all the unlicensed hacks
Make a phone call to the CSLB. Tell them whats going on. Maybe it will work and they will step in and help.
sometimes i would like to call contractors board they just did a sting up the bay area near vallejo around silicon valley cought quite a few. in our area we are having alot of people moving to the area mostly retirees with bucks. so everyone with a skillsaw and hammer has decided to be a handy man .as long as the customer knows they are unlicensed that is one thing just the other day i ran up against a guy using a false number had it on his truck and his busines card i checked it on cslb.com and it came up under a different name was first issued in 1935 and was exp in 1983 to me thats business fraud especially when he is working for all these senior citizensaround here . then i come along and try to give a bid and since i pay taxes and carri a bond and insurance my bid is much higher
Like you I always check out people who I do work for (other contractors) to make sure that they are on the up and up. I do remember reading about the sting in the valley in the last issue of the CSLB news letter. It's like the war on drugs. You catch one and there are two more to take there place.
When you bid your potential jobs educate the customer on the laws and make it known that you are licensed and follow the rules. I think that the market you are going after (retirees) will respond to that.
I hope it works out for you. It's to bad that with all the stuff you have to go through to become licensed in this state that this sort of thing happens.
I have actually run across some people I have known or worked with in the past on the CSLB newsletter (California). I get a chuckle out of their license revocations and various charges filed against them. Unfortunately, each one of those charges means someone got ripped of and probably ten times the amount for all of the unreported claims