Why are people with common sense today still giving contractors large deposits before the contractor even sets foot onto the homeowner’s property? Do we feel somewhat compelled to do such out of our deep concern to help others, or are we just trying to follow the requests or requirements of a specific contractor? You probably know where I am going with this: It’s to your detriment, folks, when you give large deposits to anyone before the work is started or materials are even ordered.

Time and again we hear the stories of the unsuspecting homeowner who opens the checkbook since the contractor wants a 25, 33.3 even 50 percent down before they come back and do anything. Now this is my own opinion, and I know I will have people respond to this in unfriendly ways, but please listen. If you are required to give a contractor any more than a $1,000 deposit on any project over $5,000, then you are hiring the wrong person or company to work for you. Walk, no, run away from any contractor or subcontractor if they need your money to basically finance working for you.

If a contractor needs your money to help finance them working for you, then they should not be in business and you should not use them. Did you get that? I just said it twice and in two different ways in case you did not hear it the first time. We live in an age where any legitimate contractor working today has state laws in place to guarantee they will get paid, so don’t be fooled by someone telling you that they need the money for the ordering of materials or to hold your place in their schedule.

Living in the computer age, as easy as it was to read to this point in this article, you can access your state’s Contractors Licensing Board website and see what the state regulations are regarding the payment amounts of deposits that are to be made to legitimate contractors. Without even seeing the website of your state’s Contractors Licensing Board, I can assure you that there are limits that a legitimate contractor can require of you. Almost every state in our country says the maximum deposit amount for a remodeling or construction contract is $1,000 or 10 percent of the contract amount, which ever is less. Did you get that?

It goes without saying that in order to have a legitimate contractor, you need to have a legitimate contract, and that’s a topic for another post. So don’t even think of hiring anyone without a proper contract, and if you do, well you’d better read another article I have written titled “No Contract, No Work for You.”

As always, while I have tons of them, send me topic ideas via email at jwc@residentialmedia.com