Bad Contractors and Holmes

homealone · #1 12-30-2010, 09:54 PM

I just finished watching an episode of Holmes on homes and let me tell you there are some contractors out there that do nothing but want to rip people off big time.

It is really sad that this kind of thing happens to people but it does. The episode that I watched today showed a woman who paid a contractor to do a good bit of work around her home and paid him a good bit as well for the work.

Well he simple made a couple of things LOOK good but were not properly fixed and then took the money and ran. I guess he worked for about 3 days on the house and then jetted with the money she paid him.

This shit just isn't right and I hope she is able to sue him for his crappy work that caused even more damage.

CalRehabber · #2 01-05-2011, 07:30 PM

This is for certain.

My GF's sister just bought a house, talked to people at her church about having new tile put in both of her bathrooms.

She assumed since this was someone from her church she would not get taken advantage of.

This was a guy who claimed to be a "HandyMan"

Charged her $5000 to install maybe 50 sq ft of ceramic tiles. Took him 1 day to do both bathrooms and he installed tiles that didnt even match.

Cost her 5K and looks like crap

Wish she would have contacted me prior...

badmomma · #3 01-05-2011, 11:18 PM

It seems to me that it is all about making money and nothing to do with doing a good job.

I have a half done electrical job that was started by someone who was recommended to me very highly. He took my money and I haven't seen him since. Now it has to be finished and will end up costing me twice as much because of this scam artist.

flip_it_fast · #4 01-06-2011, 03:35 AM

I love Holmes on Homes. That dude really knows his stuff. And God forbid if he ever got his hands on any of those shady contractors. I'd hate to see what he did to them!

It is all about the money. There are so many scam artists out there, they know every trick in the book. It's a shame but with the economy being sour, they are going to continue to scam.

loumatt · #5 01-06-2011, 07:29 AM

Unfortunately I think theres more money to be made by dishonesty and deceipt than by doing the job right.
Too bad laws in this country aren't tougher on these hacks and scammers or rather too bad these laws are not enforced well as its a major pain to bring this kind of thing to sure justice and they know that.Getting a judgment is one thing and collecting money and compesation is another.

It's buyer beware unfortunately. Usually it might cost a bit more to have work done right the first time but at least your not paying to rip it out and repaying to have it done over or worse yet looking at the shotty job in your house every single day as a reminder.

I'd recommend taking the time to see a contractors/workers job in progress near the completion stage.Go to the job site and actually take a look in person at the work being preformed.Maybe talk to the homeowner (hopefully not his mom).If a jobs being done right I think a customer will happily give a word of recommendation.Pictures always seem to look good and can focus on only what is wanted to be seen.I know time is at a premium but I'm amazed how few will actually go and look but instead go by other marketing techniques.JMO

homealone · #6 01-06-2011, 01:39 PM

CalRehabber I am so sorry to hear that your GF's sister has had this happen to her. It is really a shame that a church member would do such a thing. Maybe she could seek legal help on this matter and get some if not all of her money back from this so called "Handy Man".

Though I have to agree with loumatt, there is a lot of money to be made by scamming others out of their hard earned money and some people do this as often as possible so that they don't actually have to work for a living.

I wish the world was not this way, but as we can all see that is exactly how things are these days.

Seriously though I suggest that you tell your GF's sister to seek out legal advice on this matter because paying out $5,000 for poor work is no laughing matter. She really needs to see about getting at least part of her money back to help get all of this repaired and done properly.

realestatehound · #7 01-22-2011, 04:20 AM

Mike Holmes is one of my hero's. I think I have watched every show he has made. I truely believe in his saying "Do it right the first time" and then you don't have to worry about it. It is a fact that their are a lot of bad contractors out their, but I know a bunch and they are all good. I was told something in a real estate class one time that I truly believe, " for every one bad deal any realtor does it takes 10 good ones to make up for the bad one and I think this apply's to just about everything. It makes me mad as heck when I see thieves taking advantage of people but more so of old people. I think that contractor's just get's used to doing a job and moving on to the next. I do most of my work on my flips myself because I want it done my way and that's the only way I can get it done. Their are thieves every where now and Mike find's a bunch of them.

homealone · #8 01-22-2011, 02:36 PM

Mike Holmes is a great man and he is right about the horrible work that some contractors do to people's homes. I wish there was a way that you could easily see who was good and who wasn't. Though that is something that just isn't possible.

I don't get the chance to watch all of Mike Holmes shows though I wish I could. He is very good at what he does and he does not take short cuts and this means that his work is done and done right the first time. If I could have anyone work on my home I would want Holmes.

To bad not all contractors are willing to put as much effort behind their work as Holmes does.

I know that not all contractors are sloppy or do horrible work, there are many great one out there. Though sadfully the bad ones have given just about everyone in that profession a bad name.