Another Contractor Ripped Someone Off

Contractor allegedly cheats homeowner out of nearly $3.5K
Pamela Sroka-Holzmann | lehighvalleylive.com

"A Berks County contractor is accused of taking nearly $3,500 for a residential project and never performing the work."

We use to watch a Canadian produced TV show-- no longer on--similar to "This Old House" The twist with this show was the contractor only did jobs for people who screwed up their do-it-yourself projects, previous jobs other contractors messed up and exactly what happened in the case-- unfinished work. In one of the shows he said if you wanted to be a shyster contractor there's no better place to go then down into the United States.

I'm no sure the laws are still the same today but in Canada a contractor at that time had to maintain a untouchable amount of reserve cash in a special account, hold equivalent amount in business assets or have bond coverage for all the jobs they were working on. That way in the event they'd get sued or stiffed the customer they couldn't simply declare bankruptcy for one business then go start up another. If a contractor operated under several business names they'd still have to meet the same requirements for each. If I remember correctly they also weren't allowed to collect over a certain amount upfront before the job.

Even if these are no longer required in Canada there's absolutely no reason why they couldn't be here in the United States if we gave two nickels. But nah... we'll just go on and on time again hearing about some other customer who got ripped off. All the while government ignores this ever repeating problem. The problem being even if a customer wins a case it's likely they'll never see the money.

Of course this would require new regulations. We all know how this country feels about regulations. Who needs stinkin' regulations, right?

Ask yourself this--Why is it government contracts require contractors to post bonds when they perform public construction projects?

What are we individuals.. chopped liver!