Fire and Water Damage Restoration - Watch out For These Scams!

Contractor scams are quite prevalent today in a world wherein people want to leave no scope for any damage to their homes or property as a result of water or fire damage. Today, fire and water damage restoration is the subject of numerous scams perpetrated by contractors, looking to use the fears of the people against them. Anyone who owns a home could fall a victim to these unscrupulous contractors.

Older home Owners - Beware
A convincing pitch, an innocent look, and your gullibility, are enough for a contractor to carry out a scam. Home owners, who live in old houses, are susceptible to such scams. Fire and water damage restoration contractors, who want to commit a scam, will usually knock on your door and seemingly alert you to a major problem with respect to your home. Moreover, such a contractor would also offer to help you take care of the problem. The fact of the matter is that fire and water damage restoration contractors do not work like door-to-door salesmen. Usually, a contractor who ends up at door step is already working on some project close by and wants to add you to the list of the clients.

The Roof Repair - Pitch
One of the commonest pitches used by contractors, who want to take you for a ride, is roof repair. There are a large number of scamming contractors who tell the owner of a house that his/her roof is in a bad state and needs immediate repair. This alleged damage is only visible to the expert eye, and hiring the contractor will help the homeowner take care of the problem. Moreover, the sales pitch is such that it will leave the owner of the home convinced that he/she will be saving money in the long run if they get the roof repaired now. Contractors, in such false fire and water damage restoration work use substandard roofing materials or shingles and the home owners end up paying through the nose for such jobs.

Repaving the Driveway
Yet another fire and water damage restoration scam. Even here, the contractor is going to identify a problem in a perfectly good driveway. There is also another method used by scam intent contractors. They will use the goodwill and reputation of another contractor to get a job in their kitty. So the contractor might claim to have done that fantastic driveway two houses away, but beware. Most of the times the contractor isn?t the same!

Beware of Insurance Scams
Another actively used fire and water damage restoration scam is the one in which the contractor will purportedly tell the home owners that the repairs are for free. They are free because the insurance company will pay the bill. This is actually the worst kind of scam because the homeowner along with the contractor is committing an insurance scam. It?s a fraud because there is no real basis for the home owner to make a claim from the insurance company.