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I've decided to look elsewhere for my windows. The company doesn't have a single review anywhere and I just don't feel comfortable trusting someone like that with that amount of cash.
Call a couple of the local lumber/hardware stores. Not the big box stores, but the real deal. They will tell you real quickly if he is known, has a good reputation, pays his bills on time, and is generally an all-around reliable contractor.
Know how I know you've never run a small service business?
BINGO! The small business person doesn't have the time nor the resources to be chasing down deadbeats all the time to get paid for his work. The small business person is not a bank. If a person wants to buy the windows from a window company and hire a contractor to install them, there's nothing at all wrong with that, but you can expect to pay "up front" for custom windows regardless of whether you buy them from the vendor or buy them through a contractor.
I've decided to look elsewhere for my windows. The company doesn't have a single review anywhere and I just don't feel comfortable trusting someone like that with that amount of cash.
Wait til you decide to have an all new kitchen installed or a new roof put on your house if you think that $3,000 is a lot of money to put up.
Call a couple of the local lumber/hardware stores. Not the big box stores, but the real deal. They will tell you real quickly if he is known, has a good reputation, pays his bills on time, and is generally an all-around reliable contractor.
Nah...........they will say "never heard of him"
Nobody goes to those old fashion hardware stores anymore in the trades, they are too expensive!
BINGO! The small business person doesn't have the time nor the resources to be chasing down deadbeats all the time to get paid for his work. The small business person is not a bank. If a person wants to buy the windows from a window company and hire a contractor to install them, there's nothing at all wrong with that, but you can expect to pay "up front" for custom windows regardless of whether you buy them from the vendor or buy them through a contractor.
The homeowner doesn't have the time or resources to be chasing down deadbeat contractors all the time to get them to correctly do the work they were paid to do. Too bad the homeowner can't simply file a lien against the contractor's business the way a contractor can file a lien against the home.
How about you have him order the windows, then you pay the window place Even if he flakes out you have the windows and can hire someone else to install.
My husband used to order what he needed, then hire people to do the work if it was something he couldn't handle
I would have run away from that contractor. You got lucky because that is how most scammers work so nothing is in their name.
Also in my state you would have had to give the contractor your receipt(or copy) because even though you paid for the product the contractor still has to pay excise tax on ALL the materials used.
We were protected if the contractor didn't complete the work. We had the windows, and the window supplier was paid, so no chance of a lien for non-payment. Us paying for the windows was our idea to begin with. How is it a scam when the windows were delivered to our house, and sold to us?
What excise tax on all materials used? We paid the sales taxes on the windows, and our contract specifically stated the contractor would install the customer provided windows. We didn't pay sales tax on the labor for the installation, as that's not required in Texas.
I have no idea about the mechanic installing a transmission. I can guarantee that a real licensed tax paying contractor would have to pay excise tax on the door you bought that they installed.
So a lot of times when unknowing customers say they are having a contractor ridiculously marking up prices they are talking out their rear end. They don't understand/know the contractor IS paying more through extra taxes they have to pay.
As a contractor I would charge people more if they bought the materials because it made it a PIA for me. Especially if something was wrong with anything they bought.
What state would force a contractor to pay a tax on customer provided items? That's patently ridiculous and beyond belief. You are saying that if I tear my parents old house down, and take the front door to my house and have someone install it, they have to pay a tax on the free door?
Wait til you decide to have an all new kitchen installed or a new roof put on your house if you think that $3,000 is a lot of money to put up.
When we had our roof replaced and new Hardi siding installed, we didn't pay a dime up front. We paid all 90% on job completion, and the other 10% a month later.
When we had our kitchen renovated, we paid the first installment when the demo work was done, another one when the materials were delivered, and other payments as work progressed. We also bought all of the appliances ourselves and the contractor installed them.
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