THE PERILS OF CONTRACTING

In my extensive literature attempting to inform and warn the consumer, I urge that you perform due diligence, including viewing work, verifying references, and contacting the CSLB for license verification. Basically: you're making a big investment, so research your contractor.
On the contracting side, it's very difficult for us to do the same research on our potential customers.

The CSLB (Contractor's State License Board) is a Consumer Affairs Dept organized for the protection of the customer. It is by design unfriendly to the contractor. There exists a contradiction between the stated purposes of the CSLB as portrayed to the contractor, which are "to support and protect licensed contractors against unlicensed and unqualified persons doing construction work", and its historically hostile stance in litigation brought by consumers. 

While we have done literally thousands of successful jobs in our nearly two decades of business, there have been the inevitable encounters with consumer predators. To a great extent, the CSLB and the Attorney General's Office unwittingly become an arm of extortion and abuse at the beckon call of predatory consumers.

My license history reflects four such encounters (citations), three of which occurred immediately after the 94 earthquake (and one of which took until 1999 to finally get resolved, although at enormous cost and damage to my license). The first one, in 1988, was just a confused woman who used her father to wreak havoc on my license two years after our work was completed and released. The latter three people were simply out to get money off earthquake claims, and I was unwilling to roll over for such extortion. In retrospect, I most certainly could have approached these frightening situations differently (just paid the money). But at the time, I felt compelled to defend my deep conviction that we had done the right thing, and in these four instances, that proved both futile and costly. I now specify arbitration in our contract to short-circuit any such possibilities. All citation issues have been resolved, although at enormous expense, and at the cost of blemishes on my CSLB history.

I addressed these injustices directly to the then new Registrar of Contractors in Sacramento, C. Lance Barnett, and had meetings with his representative David Fogt. The only consolation is that Fogt says I'm overwhelmingly not alone in my complaints about the CSLB processes. I have been promised that sweeping reforms are in progress. Sadly, none of this will correct what has happened to me or my CSLB file. 

What is important for you is that you hire a contractor whom you trust, a person who has the qualifications and references to validate his performance, and one who is honest, fair, and communicative.

If you would like a more in-depth history of how the contractor side of this business is perilous, and in particular how these four individuals were able to override truth and create havoc, I would be only too happy to fill you in on the gritty details.