Home improvement among BBB’s top 10 scams for 2019

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) recently released its list of the top 10 scams across Canada for 2019, and home improvement-related cons have made the list.

The BBB says such scams generally are initiated through door-to-door contact or a flyer/advertisement with the contractor possibly offering a limited time promotion for lower price work. The agency says it’s common that the contractor will tell the potential victim that he/she has been working in their ‘hood, and has leftover supplies from that project.

Of course, once the project begins, the contractor will conveniently discover items that jack the price up, and when customers balk at that, the contractor will play the ‘fine, then I’ll walk away with the project half-done’ card.

Other common contractor scams, the BBB says, include accepting upfront deposits and then never coming back. Also, in the wake of a natural disaster, homeowners are cajoled into signing over their insurance payment.

What do you think, Contractor Nation? Is this unscrupulous behaviour on the rise, the same as always, or is it becoming more rare?