Home Improvement Complaints and Scams:

“With lower-rate mortgages tempting homeowners to trade up to a bigger house, or to refinance and expand or repair their existing home, we’re finding that construction and home improvement activity is way up, and with it is the number of complaints in those areas,” said Consumer Protection Commissioner Edwin R. Rodriguez. (Consumer Affairs, January 2006)

“Home improvement complaints rank as the top consumer complaint in Connecticut and elsewhere across the country,” Rodriguez said. “While home improvements themselves can be expensive, any problems that arise often cost consumers thousands more to fix. Unfortunately, there have been many cases where a homeowner is left with a huge problem and has no financial means of getting it repaired.” (Consumer Affairs, June 2006)

Basic scams usually do not occur with accredited companies, so make sure the company you use is licensed. “The law requires home improvement contractors to register and follow certain procedures for a reason, to protect homeowners,” Rodriguez said. “This includes complying with state laws that assure consumers a level of financial protection.” (Consumer Affairs, June 2006)

Be Wary of Certain Sales Tactic:

According to the National Consumer Law Center at consumerlaw.org, unscrupulous contractors mostly target senior citizens. Do not fall into the trap of the following sales tactics that take advantage of homeowners:

• “Bait and Switch” – offers low prices for installed items like windows and home siding, and then tells the homeowner the item is out of stock and can only be replaced with a high-priced substitute.

• Misrepresent the urgency of a needed repair.

• Claim the item is more expensive than advertised because it has to be “custom made” to fit the home.

• Misrepresent that the consumer is receiving a discount because the home is selected to model the repair when, in reality, the consumer is paying market price or more.

• Misrepresent the energy savings, health benefits and value added to the home.

• Misrepresent the terms on which financing is likely to be arranged.

Practices to Follow for Finding the Right Contractor:

If you hire a contractor with a license and a good reputation (such as the Home Remodelers Group®), you are guaranteed to avoid unfinished work, financial wrongdoing and fraud.

The National Consumer Law Center has a list of suggestions for homeowners looking for a home improvement company:

• Do not hire an unknown contractor that solicits business by knocking on your door. Deal with companies recommended by friends or reputable building supply stores.

• Before agreeing to hire any home improvement contractor, get a second estimate for the same work from another contractor.

• Get references for the contractor and speak to those references. Ask about satisfaction and any problems that arose.

• Look at other work performed by the same contractor.

• Many states require contractors to be licensed and/or bonded. Check with the state licensing body to see if the contractor you are considering is licensed.

• Get a written contract describing explicit specifications of the work, the price (including details of any financing or credit terms), the responsibility for cleaning up, and the hourly rate for any added work. Ask for guarantees and other promises to be made in writing.

• If the written documents are different from oral promises, do not sign them.

• A 3-day right-to-cancel applies to door-to-door sales and home improvement loans even after the papers have been signed.

• Do not allow a contractor to begin work until financial arrangements to pay for the work are complete.

• Do not agree to pay the final payment until the project is finished.

• Do not consolidate other debts with a home improvement loan.

• If problems with a contractor or home improvement lender arise, get help from a lawyer or housing counselor immediately.

Take Care of Your Home:

The Home Remodelers Group® has been in business since 1964 and there is a simple reason for our longevity. We take great pride in helping our customers beautify their homes, we enjoy our work and we want our customers to be happy with their homes. The Home Remodelers Goup® is licensed and insured so you can feel secure when working with us. Before you sign any contract, we provide a written estimate and detailed information on the scope of the project. You’ll know exactly what you are getting before we do anything. We do this to provide our customers with peace of mind. We have survived in this business because we focus on customer satisfaction, attention to customer service and offer quality products at a fair price.

Think of your home like a child that needs a doctor. You would take your child to a licensed and professional doctor, not someone that comes to your door. So make sure your home receives the care it deserves by hiring experienced and well-accredited home improvement professionals.

For more information visit http://www.homeremodelersgroup.com/?source=articles

Buy yourself a lamp.  They’ve been around forever but when was the last time you looked at the vast range of lamps that are available today?  The form of lamp that most people are familiar with is that old favourite the table lamp. The electric table lamp has evolved from generations of oil and gas lamp. It is versatile and portable, as far as the flex will reach! It gives out a pool of light that is usually directed down and creates a warm and cosy atmosphere.  Lamps are available in many forms with bases that can be made from glass, stone, metal, wood and even ceramic. Shades also come in many shapes and sizes and a wide range can be found online. You don’t even have to travel to the store to get your new lamp it can be purchased online and delivered direct to your door.

Consider using candles.  For many years candles were an expensive luxury that most people could not afford. They relied on the light given off by their heat source, usually the fire in the hearth, or simply retired to bed at dusk when sunlight faded. Nowadays candles are very affordable and available from many different stockists. Try using a tall candle in an elegant candlestick to bring a touch of class to your dining room or a short broad candle to bring intimacy to the bedroom. You’ve not extracted the full pleasure from a long soak in the bath until you’ve led there in flickering candle light.

Buy a clip spotlight. These are essentially a bulb attached to a giant clip. They plug in to your electric socket and can then be clipped to curtain rails or other suitable mount. Be careful though, the wires do trail from the socket to the light and it’s easy to trip over them and pull the spotlight away from where it has been secured.

Add silver or gold paper to the inside of a lamp shade. Gold paper makes the light shining from the lamp feel warmer whilst silver paper gives a cooler feel. Make sure the paper you use is fire proof though as shades can get hot.

Make the most of the natural light that falls into your room. A blind at the window can help to reflect light into the room whilst a large mirror carefully positioned can greatly increase the general brightness in any area. Ensure that drapes are held well back from a window as bunched drapes hanging in front of the glass when pulled can drastically reduce the natural light entering a room.

Whatever you decide to do it will be a lot cheaper than a major refit.

Essentially this requires a redo of the front faces of the cabinets and the hardware. This includes the doors, drawer fronts, cabinet handles and the cabinet body fronts.

One of the most common methods (and probably the cheapest) is to repaint all cabinet surfaces and doors. This doesn’t have to be a time consuming process, usually you can accomplish the entire job in 2 or 3 days. It does make a bit of a mess so it’s advised that you do all the door and drawer painting outside or in a well ventilated area of your home.  For the cabinet body fronts you’ll paint them where they stand so put up plastic sheeting over the doorways to prevent excess paint and fumes from leaking into other rooms of your house.

The other most popular method is to simply replace all the doors, drawers and hardware while leaving the cabinet bodies in place and either painting or refinishing those. This method allows you the fun and freedom of shopping for new cabinet doors but also saving hundreds or thousands of dollars over the price of entirely new cabinets.

Cabinet refacing also allows you a lot of creative freedom. Crafty individuals will often cut out the middle section of cabinet doors and replace them with all sorts of materials including punched copper, shiny objects between panes of glass, or even dried food materials in colorful arrangements. Simply using glass insets will provide a more open space visually, but be sure you’re on the neat side as visitors will see the entire contents of your cabinets!

Before starting your cabinet refacing project check out various kitchen remodeling photos on the internet and in your local home improvement stores. They will have hundreds of great ideas to suit any budget. Most of all, have fun and enjoy the pick-me-up!