Hired contractor on Feb 14 and demolishing begain on Tuesday following, wallpaper removed on Wed and prime on Thursday. No work on friday they said because of rain(don’t know what rain has to do with remodeling 2 inside bathrooms). Asked sales person for itemized list of products bought since we were given allowances and he has not sent. Asked for 3-wk project plan. Still have not got. I could go on and on and on on what has happended over the past week. But question is: what is the re-course or where can a homeowner go to get assistence with working with a contractor?

One key guideline is to limit your initial down payment, and try to pay most of the money once the contractor has done at least half of the job, or even when the job is completed.

You can also mention that the payment is reduced if the job is not completed within a certain timeframe (i’m not sure whether this is common practise with small residential jobs, but can be negotiated).

I’m not sure what the exact number were, but I heard several stories of homeowners paying 20-40% down, and then not getting much response from the contractor. Once they have their money, the worst contractors out there suddenly become a lot less responsive.