Nashville Home Improvement Help

Spring brings warmer temperatures, longer days, greener lawns and home repairs and improvements to Nashville. It also brings increased complaints about home improvement fraud to the Consumer Protection HotLine.

You should remember some simple precautions can reduce the possibility that the repairs or improvements to your Nashville home will not lead to despair later. To protect yourself from home improvement fraud you should take the following steps:

1. Only do business with local and well-established businesses. Never do business with someone who shows up uninvited on your doorstep. Or, use an online service such as BeaverBids.com to do a background check on contractors and get bids anonymously.

2. Never allow anyone into your home who you do not know and trust. Report any suspicious visitors to your home to local law enforcement.

3. Never allow someone to pressure you into a hasty decision. If someone tells you there is a serious problem with your home, get a second or third opinion before proceeding with the repairs.

4. Before doing business with any company, check its record with the Middle Tennessee Better Business Bureau at www.bbb.org or (615) 242-4222.

5. Get a written or online home improvement contract spelling out what work will be done, what materials will be used, what it will cost and when work will start and when it will be completed.

6. Verify that the contractor has workmens’ compensation and liability insurance before any work begins on your home. Have yourself listed as an additional insured on the contractor’s policy.