Potential Problems

Attention all home owners. Before hiring your out of work friend or relative to make repairs or remodel your home, read this article.

During the current economic times we all have friends and family that are out of work. Many homeowners wanting to be good Samaritans as well as save money on home repairs are hiring said people to work on their homes. Sounds great right? Not for these folks! Here are the most recent examples.

Anonymous hired a friend to install laminate wood flooring in an unfinished basement for a low hourly rate. The flooring looked great for about a week. Then, due to improper installation the floor began to buckle so badly that the door could not be opened. The floor had to be taken up and reinstalled by a professional.

Anonymous hired a friend to stain their deck while out of town. Anonymous purchased four individual gallons of solid color stain for the hired help to use. When the homeowner returned from vacation they found that their deck was three different colors. A professional knows that when using more than one can of paint you must blend all the cans together for consistency. Because the stain penetrates the wood it has to be sanded off and stained all over again. You can imagine how much that's going to cost.

Worst of all, in many of these cases the homeowners paid the friend more than the pro would have charged, and took much longer to get the job done. I could go on and on, but I think you've got the point. If you're not going to hire a professional, at least make sure they read the instructions on the products being used. For a free estimate on your home improvement project visit: www.brevardhomeimprovement.com