bobm
Garden Master
I had to replace about a 1,000 sq. ft 2nd story deck on my ranch house in Cal. since our tenant almost fell through one of the deck boards due to dry rot. Well ... our daughter had a best friend in high school ( this friend was killed in a car accident a year after graduation whose father was a real Estate Broker and owner of his own RE Company. Our daughter remained friends with the parents. Well, this broker recommended a person that does repair and maintainence work on most of his company's listings and rentals. He said that this person did very good work and was honest, licensed, etc. . Well, we agreed to use him, since he told me over the phone that he was licensed, bonded, insured, and had workman's comp. insurance. He then wanted to be paid up front . I told him that a contractor can only get paid 10% of the contracted amount. I agreed to pay for all of the materials and I did with a credit card. He then sent a so called " contract" that no sane person would sign, right after he tore off the second story deck and had about half of the work done. I sent it back to him with numerous revisions on it and told him to send me one that was acceptable to sign together with photocopies of his Contractor's license number, workman's comp,liability insurance number, copy of county building permit , and I included a W-9 form . He called back and said that he had 90% of the work done and needed to be paid in full to pay his crew. Note that he still did't send the revised " contract". I told him to finish the deck as it would take him about 3 hours to finish, send me the new contract , a filled out and signed and dated IRS form W-9 ( which I provided to him so that I could issue it to the IRS and I could then depreciate the deck repair on my tax return) and he would be paid. Well, he called again and said the work was done and he wanted his money, to which I replieed that I needed the contract and the rest of the paperwork. He did NOT send anything, so I sent him a certified letter, no reply other than another demand to be paid. THREE more certified letters over a month's period of time yielded NO paperwork. So I called the California State Contractor License Board and found that he was NOT licensed. He did NOT get a building permit, he did NOT have workman's comp, He did NOT have insurance. So, I put in a complaint with the CSLB , who then did a research on this matter and yesterday I received a letter from the CSLB stating that they are fining him $ 750 for contracting without a Contractor's license and another $3000 for not having a workmans' comp. insurance. If he doesn't pay the fines they will send it to collections and to the District Attorney for prosecution. So, how good are recomendations by family, friends , or neighbors really worth ? 
