Contractor licensing: advice needed/warning offered
Hello! First post for me so be gentle;) I was hoping to post a warning regarding a specific contractor but have been informed that names and other personal information is supposedly not allowed here in the forums… Not sure exactly how that is helpful to most of us homeowners looking for advice and a sense of community but since I am not sure how I can change that I will continue with what I can and hope for the best… I had a rather simple stoop replacement project that needed taken care of and spent hours researching contractors and getting quotes from nearly a dozen different companies. I thought I found one and was pleased that the quote was neither the lowest or highest and that there was supposedly some added protection since I found him through AngiesList. I checked his license through the DCA and his insurance, reds, etc all seemed to check out. Construction started and he immediately made mistakes. The brick sidewalls were to remain in place so really all that was necessary was demo of old treads and risers and replacement with new precast concrete treads and risers. The first build he attempted placed the bottom step at a location so close to the front fence that it all but prohibited access to the garden level. The next build moved this step so far back that it eliminated the space under the stoop necessary for a door to the garden level. He had incorrectly measured the actual treads and risers so when he finally built a third version that allowed for walkways and access to the garden, the treads themselves were overhanging each other by three inches! I could write all day detailing the problems, but the end result is that it is eight months into a stoop rebuild that should have taken no more than two months, the work is not complete, he has permanently damaged the patio around the stoop and other property, and the only contact I have had from him in the last three months is a text that is far too salty to be printing here! I reported him to AngiesList but their complaint resolution process only requires that he acknowledge the complaint – he refused to fix things or fulfill the contract but that ‘counts’ as acknowledgement so AngiesList won’t/can’t do anything for me. I reported him to the DCA and they were very helpful in pursuing the matter until they found out that they had already revoked his license. I don’t have access to all the details yet but it seems his license was revoked on basically the same day that I signed the contract. So, even though I vetted him through their license search process and supposedly did the right thing, I can’t receive any help from the DCA! So, two purposes for this post: Anyone have any advice? I have hundreds of pictures, pages of notes, hours of audio recordings of my conversations with him and his workers, and no shortage of desire to follow this through to a conclusion that gets my property safe and ‘right’ again and also makes sure he can’t do this to others. And the second purpose is to warn everyone to keep checking on your worker’s licenses! Apparently the DCA is powerless to help us when a situation like this arises!
juliaalexis
in Construction 9 years and 8 months ago
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14 replies
ronald | 9 years and 7 months ago
Licensing requirements to work legally on construction projects vary from locale to locale. In the United States. For example, in the state of California, the requirements are stated as follows: all businesses or individuals who work on any building, highway, road, parking facility, railroad, excavation, or other structure in California must be licensed by the California Contractors State License Board (CSLB) if the total cost of one or more contracts on the project is $500 or more. Hiring a licensed contractor offers many additional protections to the property owner, especially regarding residential property.so, always hire a licensed contractor instead of unlicensed contractor..there are so many licensed contractor in US ..have a look… [http://edition.cnn.com/search/?text=kitchen+remodel](http://edition.cnn.com/search/?text=kitchen+remodel) [http://www.polarisbuilds4u.com/](http://www.polarisbuilds4u.com/)
juliaalexis | 9 years and 8 months ago
I certainly don’t want to cause problems with moderators and such but I can’t see any reason why I couldn’t give you a word that rhymes with his last name… unfortunately I have no idea what word would rhyme with an Italian last name that ends with -taglia. Never been great with foreign languages I guess. It is a family company that has been around for a few decades and the son is now running it after getting it from his dad. He also does quite a bit of business with roll-off containers, big equip rentals and such centered out of his Ozone Park office down on Atlantic avenue. He has a couple business names and the website that uses his initials with generalcontracting.com is the focus for the DCA right now I believe, whereas the BBB is concentrating on a construction company named after our fair State and the number 69\. Doesn’t seem to be listed here anywhere on Brownstoner but maybe I just don’t have the hang of searching for things yet…
sunbury | 9 years and 8 months ago
Because you can’t provide his name…can you at least tell us what it rhymes with (other than brook?)… No one should have to go through what you have gone through.
snowman2 | 9 years and 8 months ago
Re the DCA, a few years ago I filed a complaint with them re a non-performing contractor. They sat on it, did nothing and did not respond to me at all for months. I contacted an acquaintance who was a DCS attorney who made a personal request to the assigned investigator. At that point she contacted me for more info and was able to inspire the contractor to complete the job by threatening large fines for an unrelated violation which she would waive if he completed the job promptly and to my satisfaction. Apparently that was the most expeditious way to get him to complete rather than address his non-performance. So DCS has teeth with a contractor who is still in business, they got the job done but with nothing on the contractor’s record wrt his non-performance, and not before a personal request from a contact I was lucky to have. Too much wrong.
juliaalexis | 9 years and 8 months ago
Thanks to all for the comments so far. In retrospect, this was a project that I probably did not need a large contracting company to tackle. I have since found places to buy the precast steps and am confident that the whole project itself was probably something that I could have tackled myself with the assistance of some well timed professional advice and the hiring of a few pros at specific moments. Timing for various reasons was tricky for me when this first came up and two huge factors (pregnant tenant that needed the stoop and large chunks of concrete literally falling out of the stoop) forced my hand a bit into taking the course of action that I took. That being said, I do feel that I did my due diligence in finding, researching and hiring the contractor. Obviously it hasn’t worked out well but I don’t know that I could have done more and gotten a better result. Again, obviously things went awry so whatever I did in my vetting process was clearly not enough but I don’t see much value in piling on the criticism at this point. I do understand that membership in, or licensing by, any particular agency or consumer group is not any guarantee of quality. I belong to a professional union myself and the members are all over the map as far as abilities are concerned. My reasoning for putting any kind of stock into the DCA license or AngiesList membership or any other review site is twofold: a large presence online and in the community seems to make it less likely that a company will simply ignore complaints and disappear into the night and; every license or membership that a company might have allows me one more avenue to pursue in the event that something goes wrong. This particular contractor advertised (incorrectly, but still) a DCA license, a BBB accreditation, a license in Nassau County, and several different business names performing various construction related functions. He is mentioned on many review sites, and has a website. He has a large hardware/construction materials store in Ozone Park and is also actively engaged in and supposedly licensed for dumpster/hauling operations and the selling/rental of secondhand construction equipment. Yes, none of things individually mean that he can be trusted or that he knows what he is doing, but collectively it means that there are many ways to seek retribution/resolution and that it is that much harder for him to ignore me or the many agencies/companies that will be interested in this situation. It is a drag that anything went wrong at all, but now, rather than me shouting at an empty lot where one lonely van was parked at one time, I have the DCA, the BBB, AngiesList, etc, fining him, restricting his advertising, excluding him from the benefits of their agencies, reporting his activity across license platforms and local jurisdictions, and I am just getting started. I don’t think the DCA is the answer to all of the world’s problems but I do believe it is a good idea to have some regulation in any industry. I also believe in the idea that paying extra to make sure that employees are covered by insurance, etc. Yes it makes the purchase price for services more expensive for me as a consumer but it also more accurately reflects the cost of doing business and is at least on track for treating workers fairly. So I did pay the premium to hire a licensed contractor who had insurance and such. It just turns out that his license was revoked right around the time I signed the contract so the DCA is saying it is not obligated to help me. I still have not received the official paperwork from them so maybe there is an appeals process that I can go through or something. When you consider the record-keeping shortcomings of any bureaucratic agency, it seems ridiculous to think that we consumers are responsible for searching for licenses constantly to find out the exact hour and minute a license status may be called into question in relation to the hour and minute we sign contracts. And that was the warning I was trying to deliver to all who might be reading my original post… license status may not be what it appears when checking the databases…
Green Mountain | 9 years and 8 months ago
I am not sure if Tinkerswagon is right or not about the benefits to contractors of the DCA. DCA, DOB and NYS DOL enforcement are so uneven, they tend to support market segmentation. Rather than offer my service to economically vulnerable consumers, who most need protection, I am forced to work almost exclusively for affluent consumers. That is not really what I want for my business. I am on a job now outside NYC, where there is no local consumer protection agency. It is too soon for me to comment on that. In NYC, I have always operated as a licensed contractor, but I worked for an unlicensed one before that. As expenses increase, I find it nearly impossible to compete with (licensed or not) other businesses, which evade taxes and commit insurance fraud. I just found out my rent at the Brooklyn Navy Yard will increased 60%. How can I issue estimates for jobs in the future, if my expenses can suddenly increase that much? Other industries are regulated for job creation, maintaining essential services, economic or cultural benefits.
newtomehouse | 9 years and 8 months ago
Agree with what @resident2 said. DCA licensing is a joke and really doesn’t mean anything as far as skill level or knowledge regarding construction. If you can barely read and write english, have a few hundred dollars to pay as a license fee and can pass a kindergarten level multiple choice test voila you are a licensed contractor. Kind of scary actually. And as @thetinkerswagon put it best “If you have to rely on anyone in any city agency, you are already in trouble”.
thetinkerswagon | 9 years and 8 months ago
the way the laws are written here in NYC, i actually think the DCA is of more benefit to the contractor than to the customer. besides, if you ever have to rely on anyone in any city agency, you are all ready in trouble.
greenmountain | 9 years and 8 months ago
Brownstoner, is more like traditional advertising. To be listed, a contractor pays and that transaction is fully disclosed. To have a larger ad, a contractor pays more.
greenmountain | 9 years and 8 months ago
Thanks for letting us know. I have replied to many posts about this problem here, but this is the first time I can remember a consumer complaint about Angie. My complaint, shared by many other contractors, is with websites claiming to vet contractors, taking no money from home owners, but promising leads to contractors who pay. There are so many sites like this, one (HomeAdvisor.com) takes money from another site, which also distributes leads to paying contractors. But, while Angie takes a little money from home owners, fees contractors pay Angie for leads are much higher than membership fees from home owners. Ethical and regulatory problems with the gig economy are well documented. Legislative remedies are likely in many sectors, but home improvement regulations always seem to fall back on protecting relatively wealthy property owners from relatively poor workers and contractors. Sure, consumers should be protected, and some large contractors have resources and lawyers, but on Brownstoner we are mostly discussing homes worth hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, and micro-small businesses, without store fronts, offices or licenses. 2/3 of Home Improvement Contractors nationally have 3 or fewer employees (Harvard Joint Ctr Housing Studies). Most contractors do at least some of the physical work ourselves. Hiring misclassified independent contractors is the most common way we keep our companies small and hiding in plain sight. We use this trick way more than the New Construction Industry, yet legally compliant Home Improvement Contractors have expenses proportionately higher than legally compliant new construction firms. Few home owners are willing or likely to pay 60% higher labor rates to contractors who carry the highest risk level Workers’ Compensation Insurance. Few home owners are aware just how routinely contractors evade payroll, sales and income taxes. I met with Amit Bagga, DCA Dep. Commissioner, shortly after Julie Menin was appointed to the DCA by Mayor de Blasio. He said he liked my suggestion to redistribute limited DCA enforcement funds to crack down on website advertisements by unlicensed contractors: “Without a lawyer in the room, I think we can do this.” He agreed to look in to it and meet again to hear some of my other suggestions. So far, consumer satisfaction levels in my industry remain extremely low. The number of contractors licensed by the DCA has increased from 14,000 to 1,500\. Mr. Bagga would not say how many unlicensed contractors are competing against the licensed ones. NYC is adding 0.2 million new affordable housing units to the existing of 3.4 million housing units (0.2/3.4 = 1/17 housing units). Perhaps the ratio of licensed to unlicensed contractors is similar. Should our city require home owners to hire only licensed Home Improvement Contractors? That would increase the DCA?s enforcement budget. Should we be protected like other domestic workers? Beyond whack-a-mole, what would a comprehensive NYC home improvement policy look like? How would a new creative NYC home improvement policy conform to NYS consumer, housing, environmental, resiliency, and economic development goals? Improving Home Improvements, we have a long way to go. Green Mountain
resident2 | 9 years and 8 months ago
Choosing a contractor by anonymous internet referrals and if they have a license is not always the best way of getting a decent job done in my experience. The internet sites, such as Angies list, Yelp etc are rigged by paid PR people working for the contractors. Just as glowing commentary on a sight like this, may well be from a contractor or on their behalf. As for a DCA license; this just shows that they have passed a 5 minute multiple choice test that shows that they know when to collect sales tax and to have the right insurance, it does not mean that they know anything about construction. It also allows them to put a lien on your property if you do not pay for the contract/work etc. Without a license they cannot put a lien on your house or take you to court for non payment. The best way to find a contractor is to pay attention to work being done around you, but do not expect that brilliant contractor to be ready waiting for you at the drop of a hat, if they are good, then they will be booked… you will need to wait in line.
newtomehouse | 9 years and 8 months ago
Not sure how someone can screw up replacing treads and risers. If you described the job correctly then the job should have only taken a few days. You measure existing treads and risers, get new treads and risers in the same size and swap them out. My neighbor did this with her brick stoop and it took them 2 days plus a 3rd for new rails. Likely not what you want to hear but short of hiring a lawyer and going after the contractor there really is not much you can do. That route probably wouldn’t make sense financially for such a small job as even if you are able to sue him and recover money the legal bills will eat up whatever you get back from the contractor. Unfortunately Angie’s List is of no help. All it takes to have a good listing there is money. That is if the company pays Angie’s List enough fees they will be a top rated company. Same goes for the BBB. As far as DCA is concerned, while they may have been able to help on a small job like this they are pretty worthless in general. They really only exist so that homeowners and small contractors without the means to have their own attorneys can have some sort of legal representation. The homeowners performing 6 and 7 figure renovations typically have their own legal representation as do the contractors they use and all contracts and or disputes are usually handled by those legal teams.
juliaalexis | 9 years and 8 months ago
Bob, thanks for the reply – all advice is welcome. I did actually get quite a few recommendations from ‘neighbors’ but unfortunately they all ended up as dead ends: either the recommendations weren’t all that glowing, those contractors were no longer available or interested, or, sadly the contractors were not properly licensed when I checked their credentials. I wasn’t looking to AngiesList as any sort of ‘gold’ standard for quality so much as a source for a lot of reviews and an extra level of protection against whatever might happen if you hire a guy off the street corner. Turns out that AngiesList doesn’t really offer much protection. Lesson learned. But I have to say that I wouldn’t have had any more protection if I had just gone with a ‘neighbor’s’ recommendation – in fact a similar job up the street by one such recommendation has been a nightmare to watch unfold as well.
BobMarvin | 9 years and 8 months ago
I hate to say this, because I’m sure you’re very upset (and rightly so) but you should have gotten recommendations from neighbors who had similar work done; not Angie’s List which doesn’t have a great reputation.