Advice For Homeowners Contracting With Builders

This question comes up fairly often and I would like to address it.

If you are going to renovate your home or condominium and you retain a contractor, make sure that the contractor is bonded and insured.

If he/she is not insured, you are acting at your own risk.  Your homeowner's insurance will not cover any errors or omissions by a contractor.  By the time the problem comes up (the roof leaks, the pool leaks, the deck leaks, the tiles don't stay down, the wood warps) it will be too late.  You can sue, but it is unlikely that such a contractor will have any money with with to satisfy the judgment.

Again, insist on a bonded and insured contractor.  Ask for a certificate of insurance.

Edward X. Clinton, Jr.