All Forum Posts by: Daniel Guerra

@Val Williams Best of luck and Welcome Val! 

I started to invest in Northwest Indiana couple of years ago. Your definitely doing the right thing, especially if they do decide to raise the property taxes even more in Illinois.

Definitely learn about Real Estate as much as you can and take action. 

@JD Martin

About 3.5K worth of work.

Plumbing work in 2nd floor bathroom.
-Rough in top floor bathroom drain and vent lines with PVC
-Pex piping for hot and cold water lines
-Set bathtub along west wall
-Tie into existing top floor piping for the following fixtures
  - bathtub including tub and shower faucet on south wall
  - toilet and vanity

Basement
-Once you walk into the basement, in the southwest corner there's some pipes
-Fix 3 inch and half pipe tapping into 4 inch cast iron main drain

@JD Martin

I do like this idea from JD below and I have added some extra notes for everybody. This may be the best route for me in my current situation. Thanks! 

"3. If the business accepts credit cards, it's a good way of paying a deposit as you have recourse through the CC company if they take your money and bail." 

You’ll need to contact your credit card company directly within 60 days of the transaction posting on your credit card bill in order to dispute a charge for service you’re dissatisfied with.

If you paid for services that were not rendered, this will almost always result in a successful dispute and you’ll get back your money as long as the transaction was large enough and you meet the geographic requirements.

@JD Martin @Christopher Tyler Hughes @Mike D.

Another issue I'm having is the city I'm working in only has 51 plumbing contractors to choose from. Every single plumbing contractor that was interested in doing the work required an initial deposit. I haven't finished contacting every single plumber that is licensed but I'm getting close.

Another mistake I made. Choosing a small city to rehab a property. There's not as many professionals to choose from.

@Matt M.

I completely understand.

It's definitely a broken system. 

Investors get screwed over if the contractor doesn't do the work after an initial deposit.

The contractors get screwed over if the investor doesn't pay the contractor after finishing some work.

Guess somebody will have to bite the bullet and as of right now, seems like the investors because there's plenty of work for contractors at the moment.

Thanks again for the insight.

@James Hamling

I did everything by the book. This guy was licensed, had great reviews, and we created two contracts (one from him, one from me). 

I own up to my mistakes. My mistake was giving a licensed contractor an initial deposit.

@James Hamling

We do have a Professional Licensing Agency. I filed a complaint directly with the Attorney General however. I can either go through the PLA or directly with the AG. I still have not heard anything. The site mentioned I should hear something within 10-14 business days. It's business day 14 today. Maybe I should hear something soon then.

@George W.

As far as I know, there is no such thing as a HVAC licensing board in my local jurisdiction.

@James Hamling, @Christopher Tyler Hughes, @George W., @Matthew Paul

This is what happened to me recently. I gave a deposit to a licensed HVAC guy, 5K. He did about 20% of the work and didn't pull the permit. He stopped working on the project and didn't pull a permit until months later. Now I do have a contract with him. I did call the insurance company about the bond and they mentioned that the bonds in our county are not performance based. My only option is to take his *** to small claims court.

Now I have been contacting other contractors and they are requesting initial deposits. As you can see, I'm very hesitant on giving them a deposit.

So, what would you do? Thanks for the responses in advance.

@Todd Rasmussen

I have that setup with Home Depot.

I also heard some investors will give a down payment of about 2K. If the contractor ghost the investor, then the Investor just moves on to the next contractor. Obviously, the contractor won't ever be hired again and will get nailed with bad reviews.

Feels like the system is broken though. Doesn't seem to be a win win for anybody.