Expert Home Remodel Contractor – Imposter or The Real Deal?

While a great number of honest, ethical, and appropriately licensed California contractors are available to remodel any single room or your entire house, there are also plenty of “imposters” hired by unsuspecting homeowners who end up creating problems or doing harm. These unlicensed (and uninsured) imposters often openly and persistently advertise their construction services, marketing themselves to local homeowners as “remodeling experts.”

And yes, you do need to be aware that even legitimately licensed contractors can “skimp.” Cost-cutting licensed contractors can put you, and your investment in your home, at high risk should day laborers or cash-only crews be used on your project. This is done by some licensed contractors to avoid paying the high and burdensome costs of workers compensation insurance. Without benefit of workers compensation insurance coverage – provided by a licensed, bonded, and properly insured contractor – you, as the homeowner, are placed at considerable legal and financial risk.

It may surprise you to know that anyone can make the claim of being a “licensed” contractor or “remodeling expert.” In fact, some imposters persist in claiming they’re “licensed” simply because they paid for a local business license. While a business license is needed by any organization that plans to operate within a city or county jurisdiction, fundamentally, that business license is an annual tax. Merely having a local business license is NOT indicative of any kind of construction competency. And, it’s certainly NOT legal evidence of a general contractor’s license awarded to a competent general contractor. Possession of a business license does NOTHING to ensure you have a licensed contractor correctly suited to your particular remodel project.

Licensed Contractors are California Regulated – Look for Legal Evidence

Unless a contractor’s “claim” of being licensed, bonded, and insured is backed and evidenced by the Department of Consumer Affairs Contractors State License Board (CSLB), those claims are nothing more than empty words.

The express purpose of the CSLB is to protect consumers by regulating the construction industry through policies that promote the health, safety, and general welfare of the public in matters relating to construction. When you work with an imposter, should something go wrong, your legal recourse is far more difficult, and your safety, legal, and financial exposure are far, far greater. Consequently, finding and hiring a properly licensed contractor for your upcoming home remodel, renovation, or repair project is mission critical!

Unbeknownst to many homeowners, contractor imposters are often simply a handyman hoping “to earn more by doing more.” The problem is, a handyman is limited to projects of no more than $1000. Even a very modest bathroom remodel is going to be more than $1000, so why would you entrust anything more than the replacement of a light fixture or drywall repair to a handyman? This is a clear case of BUYER BEWARE!

Why It’s Important to Hire the Right Contractor for Your Home Remodel

Interestingly, most California homeowners interested in remodeling are unfamiliar with the Department of Consumer Affairs and its CSLB. This lack of awareness and understanding can result in hiring mistakes and construction mishaps, as well as serious financial, legal, and construction consequences.

It’s important for homeowners to understand the various types of licensed contractors who are available to you, and why one type may be better than another.

Licensed residential building contractors fall into 3 primary types:

1. B: General Building Contractor

2. B-2: Residential Remodeling Contractor

3. C: Specialty Contractor

If you want to expand and upgrade your kitchen, or you’re looking to rearrange the floor plan and layout of your master bedroom and bath, or you’re ready to remodel your entire house for better space usage and flow, then you’re best served by working with a General Building Contractor who has a current and active B (also known as a B-1) license. The aforementioned types of construction – that involve changes to the structure, plumbing, electrical, mechanical, insulation, and drywall – demand a general contractor for submitting the plans and pulling the building permits that are required. Unless you plan to interact with the building department yourself, your first and best choice will be a general contractor – whose license also allows this type of contractor to manage, supervise, and coordinate your entire project, from start to finish.

A licensed General Building Contractor is the appropriate contractor for you in any remodeling project that will involve any kind of structural changes. Why? Unlike other contractors, those holding a current and active B license may do ANYTHING in connection with ANY structure built. To use the exact words of the CSLB, B license contractors may do any construction requiring “the use of at least two unrelated building trades or crafts, or to do or superintend the whole or any part thereof.”

If you have a far simpler remodeling project that will not involve any structural changes or alterations, then perhaps a B-2 Residential Remodeling Contractor could suffice. B-2 contractors “shall not contract to make structural changes to load bearing portions of an existing structure, including, but not limited to, footings, foundations, load bearing walls, partitions, and roof structures.” Additionally, they “shall not contract to install, replace, substantially alter, or extend electrical, mechanical, or plumbing systems or their component parts, or the mechanisms or devices that are part of those systems, unless the residential remodeling contractor holds the appropriate license classification, or subcontracts with an appropriately licensed contractor.”

The third type of contractor is a Speciality Contractor who holds a C license. Specialty contractors do “construction work requiring special skill and whose principal contracting business involves the use of specialized building trades or crafts.” Examples of this would be: plumbers, electricians, carpenters, painters, landscapers, etc. The extent of their construction capabilities, per their license, would be limited to their specific area of specialization.

Choose a General Contractor for Permitted Work

If your remodeling project involves any type of mechanical, electrical, plumbing, or structural  alterations, then plan reviews and building permits will be required. The acquisition of a permit will increase the total cost of your project and add to the project timeline. Anything involving structural changes requires an engineering review – and this adds to the time it takes to acquire a building permit. The exact amount of time can vary widely depending on the project size, complexity, and the respective workload of the building department.

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Ed Neir at Ed Neir Construction is a general contractor with a B license who provides all the necessary residential construction services, including: drafting, architectural, structural engineering, and design. As a general contractor, Ed can pull the building permit and manage all the different trades for your remodeling project. Additionally, Ed and his team will have all the requisite skills, building code knowledge, and construction experience to complete the work and ensure competency (as well as reliability and excellence) in delivered workmanship.

Contractors who are appropriately licensed are competent professionals who must have completed a requisite amount of construction work experience and also successfully passed a licensing test with the state. Typically, they are not only responsible for their own work on any project, but also oversee their duly hired construction crew (who should be covered by workers compensation insurance to safeguard the employee as well as the homeowner).

A general contractor is responsible and accountable for any licensed subcontractor who is brought in to complete any part of the work on a given remodel project. Ed Neir Construction provides you with a licensed general contractor and expert project manager as well as a highly-skilled and fully accountable owner. Ed will work directly with you – from start to finish – to meet your discriminating needs and to ensure that the vision you have for your home becomes a beautiful reality.

Unfortunately, unsuspecting homeowners have inadvertently hired imposters who often lack the requisite construction training, proficiency, license, bond, and insurance. These imposters can pose tremendous problems for unsuspecting homeowners by failing to use proper construction techniques, and by failing to employ construction professionals on their work crews – who must be covered by workers compensation insurance to ensure appropriate safety and to afford necessary legal protections. Without competent professionals at the helm of a construction project, homeowners can be left high and dry, without any legal remedy to ensuing problems, and unable to collect any monies paid out in advance should the project not achieve completion.

Beware: Imposters Masquerade as Licensed & Competent Contractors

The average homeowner often doesn’t know how to spot an imposter. In some communities, an imposter may have been around a long time with their company name becoming well known through their persistent advertising and community presence. This imposter – regardless of how much the imposter may be entrenched within the community – is NOT an equivalent replacement for a competent licensed contractor, and most assuredly, NOT for a current and active general contractor.

Imposters can certainly appear legitimate. There’s nothing like a well done ad, business card, social media post, or postcard to make a business “appear” sound and trustworthy. Although without a current license number listed on any of the marketing or sales materials, advertising, or website, you actually do have an obvious warning sign and big red flag that something is clearly amiss. Licensed contractors routinely post their license number on any and all advertising and sales materials.

Some imposters, who just happen to be good marketers or who pay for professional marketing and advertising, can have a following of unsuspecting clients who liked the “surface evidence” of the imposter’s construction efforts. These homeowners can end up referring business to the imposter. Those who innocently trust referrals – without first checking the contractor license status – can end up hiring an imposter for their remodel, placing themselves at considerable risk.

The Many Risks of Working with An Contractor Imposter

What if the imposter’s work is done incorrectly and to far lower standards of construction? What if the Imposter fails to meet current building code? Can my home sell for less or be required to do replacement construction work prior to closing a sale? What if the imposter fails to employ proper construction techniques? What if the imposter lacks the necessary skill or cannot complete the project as promised?

Working with a contractor imposter can place a homeowner at far greater risk of legal ramifications, financial loss, and even physical danger should the structural integrity of the home be compromised by knocking out a load-bearing wall or making some other similarly risky construction error. Imagine having the plumbing in your new bathroom fail and the sewer back up into your new tub and overflow into other rooms. Or, consider what could happen if the wiring in your new kitchen was done improperly. Such a situation could potentially harm costly appliances or lead to an electrical fire. These are the painful and costly lessons experienced by homeowners who happened to chose an imposter.

Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for imposters, and even some actively licensed contractors, to use day laborers or a “cash-only” construction crew. When this happens, the homeowner is legally exposed and at serious risk should anyone be injured. And if any serious remodel or major construction work is done by an imposter, it will be lacking in the necessary permit. Only duly licensed general contractors are authorized to pull building permits on behalf of the homeowner.

Unknowingly, innocent homeowners – satisfied with “surface results” – can actually help propagate the imposter’s illusion of legitimacy by providing positive reviews, testimonials, and referrals. Many homeowners have unknowingly come to trust the posted reviews of their neighbors and friends, failing to consider whether or not that referred imposter is actively licensed or legitimately qualified to undertake their specific home renovation or remodeling project.

Ed Neir Construction has been called in by homeowners only to find that proper construction techniques, building code, or structural design concerns had not been honored by the imposter responsible for the previous work. In certain cases, this adversely impacted the structural integrity of the homeowner’s residence – a very serious consequence of having hired an imposter!

Without the necessary permit, a pending home sale can be placed at risk. Previous work done by imposters will need to be ripped out and entirely redone to current construction standards and building code requirements causing added and unanticipated costs for the homeowners. While homeowners may think they’re “simply saving money,” using an unlicensed contractor can, in the end, prove far, far more costly. Adding to homeowner problems, imposters can place safety, and home investment preservation, at serious risk!

No Real Savings with An Imposter – But Plenty of Added Costs!

Imposters, being unlicensed, are unable to procure building permits. Consequently, the unpermitted work they do can be unsafe, substandard, and fail to meet current building code. Homeowners, hoping to save some money on their remodel, will hire imposters because they’re often the lowest bid. An unusually low bid is a very telling sign of an imposter.  Legitimate, licensed contractors will tend to be in the same ballpark. The imposters tend to provide pricing far less than that of a legitimate contractor. Upon accepting the lowest bid, unsuspecting homeowners often wind up hiring an imposter and then dealing with the consequences – consequences that can prove both deeply concerning as well as costly!

Some imposters are handymen who want to earn more money by taking on far bigger projects. A handyman is restricted to projects of $1000 or less. When imposters openly and persistently advertise home repair and remodeling services at reduced prices, they WILL win business from the unsuspecting homeowner who is only looking for a bargain.

Lower prices are unsurprising from imposters. Without the necessary business overhead of an appropriate license, bond, insurance, and an experienced staff of construction professionals as their employees, these imposters can readily offer you lower construction prices than any of their legitimately and actively licensed competitors. Imposters exploit these illegal advantages in their far lower cost structure.

Whenever price is the primary or sole consideration, imposters can readily come in with lower price offerings as a means to help ensure they win your business. Big price disparities between contractors are a clear warning sign!

Protect Yourself – Hire & Contract with Licensed Professionals

Fortunately, there are ways you can protect yourself against the harms done by these scammers, whose existence and cheating ways place the rest of the fully-licensed, bonded, and insured contractors in a highly compromised position due to the scamming ways of the imposters. To learn more, read our blog on the 10 ways you can avoid the harm and problems that tend to come with inadvertently hiring “the fakers.”

Homeowners who have been scammed by imposters have often paid for substandard, shoddy, or even seriously unsafe construction work, or experienced a failure to have their jobs either started or never completed. This can and does occur, even after the homeowner has parted with the reduced sum of money the imposter demanded for the project.

These lower or “special sale” prices are often offered at below market rates solely as a means to “win the business” and run, or as an attempt to win your business away from the fully legitimate, licensed contractors.

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Legitimate contractors have the overhead of:

• A proper construction business with full-time employees covered by workers compensation insurance

• A California contractor’s license and local business licenses

• Proper insurance and bond

• All the additional and normal costs of running a business operation

Any legitimate business must cover its business costs to sustain itself, but there are added costs for licensed contractors, and added protections provided by the state of California specific to homeowners. It’s well worth understanding these added costs and consumer protections!

Keep in mind that imposters want and need your hard-earned money to fund their unlicensed or inadequately insured construction business. Some of these scammers may have some construction experience, so can prove both convincing and very charming. They may have started their business as a “handyman” service, but then expanded to capture the bigger dollar projects they want. It’s important to keep in mind that these imposters aren’t properly licensed or insured. They should NOT be entitled to win or do your project, and cannot be trusted to complete it correctly.

If you’re ready to begin your residential construction project, then call actively licensed and reliable Ed Neir Construction today.