After Hurricane Harvey, many Houston neighborhoods have witnessed an influx of the so-called “storm chasers.” Some of them are shady contractors looking to make quick money off residents desperate to quickly rebuild their homes. Contractor scams are an unfortunate trend that follows most disasters.
There are too many stories of how people scammed by con-artists posing as building and remodeling contractors. In other words, some of them disappear with the money leaving the job unfinished. Additionally, others lack the quality, licensed resource, or the paperwork to complete the job legally. Or to the satisfaction of the homeowner. So, if you are a consumer looking for a contractor, plumber, or any other remodeling professional, then watch out for the below scams.
Consumer Scammer Alert – What To Look For
Don’t Trust Door-to-Door Contractors. Be leery of anyone who shows up offering to patch your roof, fix your AC unit, or rebuild your kitchen. Unscrupulous contractors may cause irreparable damage. Then disappear after you pay a deposit, or they may steal your AC unit. Lastly, they sometimes abandon a kitchen renovation project mid-way. Instead, check with friends, neighbors, or co-workers who have hired a contractor and ask them for their recommendations.
Firstly, ask for the License and other paperwork. Secondly, stay away from unlicensed or fly-by-night roofers and contractors. Thirdly, and most importantly, check with your State’s licensing division, local building department, or consumer protection agency for their workers’ compensation insurance and proof of liability insurance.
Check Their Websites. Look for a reputed contractor whose reputation and record you can verify. Most good contractors have a website these days. Check their websites to know how long they’ve been in business. To further verify, you can do a whois search and see how long their domain has been active. This search will give you a rough idea of how long the business has been around.
See Their Previous Work. Check their portfolio online or ask them to show you the work they have done. A genuine contractor should also be ready to share a list of recent customers. You can contact those customers to ask about their experience with the contractor. Also, checking the Better Business Bureau and other review sites can be great.
Business Owners – Show Them Your Local!
While home and business owners are at the receiving end of contractor scams, such incidents are a blight on the contractor industry as a whole. If you own a contractor business, these scams may put a question mark on your services as well. Therefore this is why you should have everything in place to prove your legitimacy. ProEngage’s Local Houston SEO company experts recommend starting with this:
Have a Secure Website
Most reputable sites that collect personal information of visitors for purchases or identity verification have an SSL certificate that prevents third parties from stealing the data. If your site is SSL verified, you should see an “https://” before the website address. Because It’s the best way to let your customers know your website is safe.
Maintain a Consistent and Accurate NAP
You should have your full address with the state and zip code, phone number, and business hours put up on your website. In fact, you should have a consistent NAP — or Name, Address, Phone Number — across your website, local directories, listings, and social pages. This helps to get your business listed in the local search results, making it easier for local customers to find you.
Add Certifications and Qualifications to Your Website
If you are a BBB accredited business you should link to your accreditation page like we have here. If you are not, you should be… Simply stating that you are a licensed contractor is not enough. You should include your state license number to make it easy for a consumer to verify your licenses. It’s also a good idea to add customer success stories, customer testimonials or quotes, logos demonstrating professional accreditation, industry associations, and other qualifications to your website. These should ideally go at the bottom of each page where they are visible to the visitor throughout the time they spend on your website.
Showcase Your Customer Reviews Online
Be it testimonials on your websites, reviews on Facebook, BBB ratings, LinkedIn recommendations, or positive comments on any other channel — make sure to highlight them for your potential customers to see. This will help them view you as a business that’s trustworthy. While nothing can really guarantee that you won’t be affected by scam, these tips can go a long way in helping you protect your money and property or your business’ reputation during these difficult times.
Show Your Reviews and Link To Them Like This
“We hired ProEngage after working with another company that was not working out. ProEngage optimized our web pages and improved our site. Tyler is knowledgeable and experienced with local SEO and understands the power of online marketing. If you are considering replacing your current SEO, we highly recommend them for the job.”
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“As an Executive Consultant, our company is bombarded daily with SEO telemarketing calls. There are thousands of Houston SEO website companies to choose from, but we decided to work with ProEngage Local to create our website and handle our SEO. As a local business, they place emphasis on customer service, pay close attention to detail, and comprehend precisely what you need. The team created a professional web design for representing our company. They have the experience vital to put into action a strategic internet marketing plan that gets results. I would highly recommend ProEngage Local for anyone considering a Houston website design and internet marketing company.”