Hiring a "Handyman" and Angie's List - Part I

I know I am not the only person in construction that has been a "handyman" in the course of my life. I've had my share of being in between projects/companies and needed the work, so I got by using my knowledge and tools until I was hired by a company to build who knows what.

The difference between what I have done in the past and the ads I am seeing on craigslist and most recently on a website named "Angie's List" is that I did not go out and start an unlicensed, uninsured business. I merely took my knowledge and tools and charged a more than fair rate for my time to be at someone's house repairing something that needed to be repaired. I am the sort of person that had I broken anything or if I had botched a repair, I would have worked for free to make it right or paid for someone else to make it right. Thank goodness that I never needed to do either.

For now, I am only going to write about Angie's List. For those of you who don't know what Angie's List is, it is a website where as a member(yes, you have to pay) are able to find a company and/or contractor based on reviews from people that have used this company and/or contractor in the past. Once a company has several reviews they get a grade and a ranking which is either good or bad depending on the service provided and the written review. In a nut shell: this is free advertising for companies and a way to get repeat and referral business.

So me, being me - I thought to myself, "Cool, this could work for me!" and started to look into the website. What I found immediately was that approx. 90% of their Handyman Service section were company's listed on the site but were not licensed. I know this because some said so and I went onto the Contractor's State License Board of California to check. These were not people "in between" jobs. These were people (and company's) who take visa and mastercard.

Ok, so what's the big deal?? These people probably know what their doing and have the right tools, etc... Well, the most important "Big Deal" is that a self-employed handyman working without a license puts the home owner at risk. Let's say you hire Sam, the Shingle Man to fix a leak in your roof and he is not licensed, or bonded, or insured. You've given him a sizable deposit and Sam is up on your roof fixing the leak. Oh darn, he slips and falls off the roof. Now, for sake of this example he's not dead or even seriously injured but he can't finish the job and you now have a big hole in your roof that will DEFINITELY leak. What do you do?? You have no recourse with Sam. He's long gone with your deposit by now. You could try suing him personally and/or invoke your homeowners liability insurance. The sticky part is: you allowed him on your property, you allowed him to climb up on the roof and by doing so you have just become his employer. You could also be liable for workers comp and even payroll taxes. Worse than all the above, Sam could turn around and sue you for all of his medical bills etc... YIKES!!!

Here are the facts:

• It's illegal for an unlicensed person to perform contracting work on any project valued at $500 or more and materials.
• Besides being illegal, unlicensed contractors lack accountability and have a high rate of involvement in construction scams.
• They are also unfair competition for licensed contractors who operate with bonds, insurance and other responsible business practices.
• Organization called SWIFT (StateWide Investigative Fraud Team) that has been set up by the CA State License Board to monitor and combat illegal activity.

I contacted Angie's List with my findings and concerns as stated above. Four days later I received a response as written below:

"Hello Deborah,

Thank you for your email and sorry for the delayed response. Angie's List is a service for consumers where a person can go on our list and look at other people's past experiences that have had with contractors and decide whether or not they would also like to use them in the future. It is the states job to monitor and punish contractors who are operating illegally; we are not a policing force. If you have evidence or specific examples of companies on our list who are operating as licensed and who are not, we will gladly take a look at these companies and take appropriate action. If SWIFT were to contact us and inform us of companies on our list who are unlicensed and operating illegally we would gladly assist them as well. We strive to keep honest companies on our list, and if a company operating illegally, then they are not a company that we want to offer to our members."

Hmmm...

Check back for Part II where Deborah responds!!