Avoiding Home Improvement Pitfalls: Tips from an OCP Investigator

In this episode of Consumer Connection, host Michelle Escobar sits down with OCP Investigator and licensed home inspector Matthew Kaufman to discuss how homeowners can avoid common home improvement pitfalls and make informed decisions before starting a project. From choosing a trustworthy contractor to understanding major upgrades like HVAC systems, insulation, and solar installations, Matthew shares practical tips to help consumers protect their homes, finances, and peace of mind throughout the home improvement process. 

Remember to message us the word "contractor" on social media or by email, and we'll send you our Hiring a Home Contractor cheat sheet to help you get started. 

Have a question or suggestion for a future episode? Send an email to consumerconnection@montgomerycountymd.gov.

Transcript

Why Home Improvements Go Wrong

Michelle Escobar 0:10

Welcome to Consumer Connection, a podcast brought to you by the Montgomery County Office of Consumer Protection. I'm your host, Michelle Escobar. Today we're diving into a topic almost every homeowner faces at some point: home improvements. Whether you're planning a small upgrade or a major renovation, your decisions can impact your home's safety or your wallet for years to come. Joining us is Matt Kaufman, investigator here at OCP, who specializes in home improvement complaints. He's also a trained home inspector with years of experience. Matt sees these issues from every angle, from the consumer side, the contractor side, and the practical realities inside the home. In this episode, we're breaking down what homeowners need to know before starting any project contractor selection, contracts, energy efficient upgrades, solar panels, and long-term planning. And by the way, if you send us a DM or email us the word contractor after listening, we'll send you OCP's How to Hire a Contractor cheat sheet. Matt, welcome to the show. Thank you, Michelle. Good to be here. Thank you for being here. So we've been working together for some time now. We both do home improvements. So I think this is going to be a really good conversation. We have a lot in common and a lot to talk about.

Matthew Kaufman 1:38

And I'm really looking forward to this because, as you know, the best thing we can possibly do for homeowners is to inform them ahead of time. Because most of the time, by the time they get to us, they already have a problem that in most cases could have been prevented with a little bit of foreknowledge.

Michelle Escobar 1:58

Absolutely. Absolutely. That is a very true statement.

Common Complaints

Michelle Escobar 2:04

And so talk, let's talk a little bit about common complaints since we're here. You know, let's talk a little bit about common complaints. Um, what are we what are we seeing at the office right now with home improvement complaints?

Matthew Kaufman 2:15

Well, Michelle, a lot of time, most of the time, we see the complaints divided into a couple of categories. Uh the first category would be criminals, unfortunately. And those are people who, at the beginning, their intention is to steal people's money, to convince them to give them money and then leave with it and not return anything of value. So that's something that we encounter, and it's difficult because if a criminal is planned to take your money, they've usually also planned to hide the money after they've taken it and maybe even have hidden their identity.

Michelle Escobar 2:52

So let's pause there for a minute because let's talk a little bit about red flags.

Matthew Kaufman 2:56

Yes.

Michelle Escobar 2:56

When they are where they are intending to take your money, we're looking, what are we looking for? Um, those handshake deals. That's right. They're not presenting you a contract. That's right. They don't have a license, possibly. Um that pressure, those pressure tactics, pay with cash.

Matthew Kaufman 3:13

That's right. Cash or payment apps.

Michelle Escobar 3:16

Yes. Um, so what we recommend is pay with uh a check or a credit card because that that's gonna be your your best defense. Um, or asking them to pull their own permits.

Matthew Kaufman 3:30

Pulling their own permits. And there are some of those things will cross the boundary of uh contractors who do intend to do work. Okay, yeah, um who will ask people to get the permits themselves because they're in that middle range where they're actually contractors, they may or may not be licensed. They do intend to do the work, but they're also perhaps not the best quality or the most ethical, and they want to give you as little purchase in terms of holding them accountable as possible. So phone numbers, addresses, business names don't necessarily match up with the license. The license number won't be provided on contracts, et cetera.

Michelle Escobar 4:15

And sometimes they're not equipped to do the work.

Matthew Kaufman 4:17

That's right.

Michelle Escobar 4:17

You know, it might be somebody you've worked with before, but they don't - they're not equipped to do that work.

Matthew Kaufman 4:24

They don't know what they're doing. Yeah. Right. And I've had that happen. I've had people who vetted contractors. Oh, he's got good references or she's got good references, but they're actually taking on a job that's bigger than anything they've ever done. They might have been the laborer for a job like that, but they've never been the one to organize, budget, and implement it. So yes, that's uh that's a difficult situation when the consumer finds themselves having given away a lot of money and not getting anything in return.

Michelle Escobar 4:54

And you said there's a third one.

Matthew Kaufman 4:55

Third category, which is legitimate contractors uh who are licensed and have so there are three categories the criminals, the people who are ethically on the in-between, but have sometimes they're big corporations who, you know, just protect themselves more than they protect their consumer. And then the third category is just legitimate misunderstandings about uh expectations and results, workmanship, uh disagreements on timelines, things that most of the time can be solved with uh a good contract. Helps a lot.

Hiring A Contractor With Realistic Expectations

Michelle Escobar 5:34

Absolutely. Yeah. So let's talk about that. How do we choose then? Um what do we tell the homeowners? How do you choose a good contractor? What do I do?

Matthew Kaufman 5:43

Yeah.

Michelle Escobar 5:43

Because that it takes it, you have to to have to plan a home improvement, it takes so much energy.

Matthew Kaufman 5:49

It does.

Michelle Escobar 5:50

And and it really takes so much thought. Right. Like you really have to be organized to and and understand what am I doing in my home? This is your home.

Matthew Kaufman 5:58

Yeah.

Michelle Escobar 5:58

And you're counting on someone else to do this for you. That's right. But you really need to be as knowledgeable as you can with what's going on in your life.

Matthew Kaufman 6:07

That's correct. And I would say that that first starts with having realistic expectations. So no one's perfect. Even the best contractor can have something go wrong or not turn out exactly the way they wanted it to or you wanted it to. And your expectations, the homeowners' expectations, have to be realistic. When we build a new wall, you can't hold a magnifying glass to it and expect it to be perfectly smooth because that's not how it works. If you want that quality, you have to expect to pay 10 times the amount of a normal construction job. So establishing realistic expectations with the contractor and or at least in with yourself before you're even looking for a contractor, what am I actually looking for? What am I actually expecting? Because if you're expecting a caviar spread on a fast food budget, it may be time to step back and reflect on really is this the right time to be doing this? Because that's not gonna happen.

Michelle Escobar 7:10

And the thing is the caviar uh spread might take more work and more effort. It yeah, exactly. So it's gonna it's gonna, you know, you're we're to build this wall, we're gonna have to tear down, you know, this and and you know, much more of it. And it just can turn into something else. So I I hear you. I hear you on that.

Matthew Kaufman 7:29

It requires a much higher level of skill, yeah, planning, and quality of materials. And all of those things cost more.

Speaker 7:37

Yeah.

Matthew Kaufman 7:38

So yeah, you the the you don't get real caviar at a fast food burger price. That's just not gonna happen. But those are the criminals.

Michelle Escobar 7:50

Yes.

Matthew Kaufman 7:51

People who tell you you're gonna get caviar, yes, and they're selling it to you uh for the price of a a bag of french fries. So the best thing you're not gonna get what you're thinking you're gonna get.

Michelle Escobar 8:03

Right. So the best thing to do is protect yourself the best way you can.

Matthew Kaufman 8:07

That's right.

Michelle Escobar 8:08

So get a licensed contractor um from the Maryland Home Improvement Commission. Make sure that you that you get a licensed contractor because there are benefits to that in the sense where they have to take uh an exam. Their salespeople have to take an exam and pass it on law, laws and regulations for home improvement, um, how to sell home improvement. Um, and their contracts have to have certain things. Now I know if we get into contracts, this that's a that's a that's an episode on its own. But um, in general, you want to make sure that the contractor has, the contract has the contractor's name, the MHIC license, um, and you want to verify because I can't tell you how many times I have um seen contractors with all this great contracts with all this information, but the consumer didn't verify it, and they're not licensed. Their license had expired.

Matthew Kaufman 9:06

So you use someone else's or they use someone else's exactly. Or there's just no license on the contract, and the name of the business is actually not a registered business in Maryland.

Michelle Escobar 9:16

Yeah.

Matthew Kaufman 9:17

It's the person actually acts under another business.

Michelle Escobar 9:21

Or another one I've seen is the business license that they give you in um that you can obtain in uh the courts, the that circuit court. It now they say not for now it says not for home improvement. Right. But believe me, I've seen that whited out.

Matthew Kaufman 9:39

Yeah.

Michelle Escobar 9:40

And they use it as a home improvement license, and people don't know. So it has to be a Maryland Home Improvement Commission, an M H I C number.

Matthew Kaufman 9:48

Right.

Michelle Escobar 9:49

Um, the approximate dates is another, and that's another uh Can we just briefly talk about the license contract thing?

Matthew Kaufman 9:57

Um so realistically, because there's what's right, what's legal, and then there's what's practical. Homeowners are allowed to do what they want. I can go do the work in my own home. Maryland is fairly generous with homeowner rights in terms of being able to do work ourselves. So realistically, people do hire a handy person for small jobs. That person may not be licensed. We recommend you always use the licensed contractor because there are protections that come with that. The MHIC has a guarantee fund that covers for problems of the work that was contracted for. They have a fund that can help offset those costs. There are legal protections. Even licensed contractors often don't know what all of the required provisions are in the contract. And I've rarely seen a home improvement contract, even from legitimate, honest, scrupulous contractors that have all the required elements in the contract under Maryland law. So having a licensed contractor is good. It provides some legal protections. If you it means they're a real business, if you vet and make sure that license actually masters the business name and actually matches the person you're dealing with, we know who they are. There's someone who's a legitimate person who has a real address, and that gives you some protection as a lot. But it's not the end of the vetting process to just say, oh, this person is licensed.

Michelle Escobar 11:38

That's right.

Matthew Kaufman 11:38

Because a licensed person who's only done small jobs, and all of a sudden you're got good referrals from neighbors and friends, and that but you call that person and say, I want to do an addition on the back of my home. They're likely to say yes because that's a big job that makes you a lot of money. Has that person ever actually handled the job of that scope? Right.

Michelle Escobar 12:04

Like your neighbor got their driveway done.

Matthew Kaufman 12:07

That's right. Or they've done a bunch of run, they've done a bunch of small interior renovations, they've done roofing. They they could have done a bunch of different things, and they can be skilled and capable and honest and have integrity, and yet they can still be tempted to take on something that they have only seen other people do.

Michelle Escobar 12:27

Yeah.

Matthew Kaufman 12:28

And they've never actually organized and executed the work themselves. And that is a very risky proposition.

Michelle Escobar 12:34

Yeah. So what do we do? What are we, what are what do you recommend people to? What questions do they ask? What what do they do?

Quotes, Permits, and Independent Oversight

Matthew Kaufman 12:42

So the first thing is, am I dealing with a legitimate business? It's the expectation thing. How much I'm planning? What am I getting into here? Right. And so that starts before you even talk to the contractor. So for instance, if I want to put insulation in my attic, what are the what are the potential uh grants and refunds that I can get from the utility company and from the state? And what are the requirements of those things? Because if you know those things ahead of time, that dictates how you go about the process. You have to get an energy audit first.

Michelle Escobar 13:20

Yeah. And don't take the contractor's word for it. You have to do that.

Matthew Kaufman 13:23

You have to do some which is why once you've decided kind of where you want to go, what you think you want to go, do in your home for improvement. It's good to have more than one contractor come in and discuss it with you because hopefully you'll get some ideas from them. And you may discover, for instance, with your attic insulation, they're going to be covering over that old poorly running and noisy bathroom vent fan. Well, that should get replaced first before you do the insulation, because there's an order of operation. You don't cover something over with insulation that you're later going to want to uncover and replace because it's old and doesn't work properly. So having those discussions, getting multiple quotes and thinking through what are my priorities, what's realistic, how much do I have to spend before you start talking to salespeople is very helpful. So you have an understanding of what it is that is really going to help and serve you and your home and your family.

Michelle Escobar 14:24

And look at those quotes when you get all three of them or however you're how many you're going to get, look at them, compare them, the approach price and read through them, what exactly is going to be done. Um, they should match, you know, at the end of the day, right? I mean, they should.

Matthew Kaufman 14:40

Well, they won't.

Michelle Escobar 14:41

Okay.

Matthew Kaufman 14:42

They won't match. That's part of the difficulty.

Michelle Escobar 14:44

So the way you know where to go and who to deal with is by doing your own.

Matthew Kaufman 14:50

You have to do some research, unfortunately. You have to do some research. Now, there's a way that that can be you can uh support yourself or help yourself with that. So again, depending on the size of the job, if I'm just having my front stoop resurfaced or I'm having a small job, let's say some rotted trim replaced, my risk and my expense is relatively small. So, okay, that's not such a big deal. And if it goes badly, it's not that hard to recover from. We can fix whatever went wrong. We're talking about a $200,000 addition or a full gutten renovation on an interior home, something really significant, where we're talking about many tens of thousands of dollars or potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now you're taking a much larger risk, and it's more important to back up and ask yourself how you can take care of yourself, get quotes, and consider hiring an independent person whose only job is to review the work that's being done, or even a lawyer to review the contract if you don't feel comfortable reviewing it yourself. Because when you're starting to spend that much money, you're taking a much larger risk. Your expectations are way higher. The amount of time and energy and expense and risk are much higher. So having a licensed home inspector or an architect or an engineer, and those obviously are three steps in escalating costs to review the construction at various stages. Uh, each of them have different skill sets and capabilities and different levels of expense, but they're a uh they're your own set of eyes. Because one of the things that I would say is most important for people to understand in terms of quality control for the work is that the county or municipality code inspection is not a quality control inspection. And most people assume it is, and it is not. It's a compliance inspection.

Michelle Escobar 16:52

Yeah.

Matthew Kaufman 16:52

And that's all that that is. It's a compliance inspection.

Michelle Escobar 16:55

I'm glad that you mentioned that.

Matthew Kaufman 16:56

Does this work appear to comply? They can't go through every single little detail and make sure everything is perfectly correct. That's not their role and it's not the result.

Michelle Escobar 17:11

So,

How To Prioritize Home Projects

Michelle Escobar 17:12

how what do you suggest in prioritizing your projects? Um, whether it's um just you know, is it safety, efficiency, long-term durability? Like how do we how do we prioritize our projects that we want to do?

Matthew Kaufman 17:29

That's a very tough question because that is entirely subjective. Uh and it's a kind of it's a complex consideration because how long will I plan to live in the home? How much disposable income do I have available? Uh what are the what is the condition of and age of the major essential components of the home? My heating system, my cooling system, my plumbing system, uh, the electrical system. Like so to me, the best thing to do is to have someone who's not going to be trying to sell, who has that's why the independent third party is valuable because they don't have something to sell. As long as they don't have something to sell you in, or they even if you hire a contractor and say, I want you to go through the home and I want you to tell me everything you see, and I'm not gonna use you for any of the work, but I'm gonna pay you to do the evaluation and give me a written report and uh and tell me how much you'll pay for, and I'll pay for that. And that's what your service is to me is to review the condition of the home, things I might not know as a homeowner, and tell me what I'm looking at here.

Michelle Escobar 18:40

Because a lot of times I can I'll have people, um, salesmen, salesmen come to my home, for example, and say, um, we have a special on windows. Um, so they're always trying to, you know, save you a buck, um, you know, so you can put installation or a new roof or new windows and doors. Um, and I think that that's probably maybe one of the main things and the first thing people think about is changing, you know, their windows to save some energy cost or something.

Matthew Kaufman 19:10

So right. And that's part of the so that's again reviewing what my own personal situation is. What am I, what is my goal? Do I want to make the house more comfortable? Do I need to make something more accessible for someone who has limited mobility? Uh, or do I am I looking to improve security? Am I looking to improve energy efficiency? Do I want to look at it to look more beautiful? Do I need an extra bedroom? Like what are my personal priorities? What are my resources? And what is the what is my end goal?

Solar Contracts, Leases, and Pitfalls

Michelle Escobar 19:46

And so solar panels are huge.

Matthew Kaufman 19:50

And both in terms of risk and reward.

Michelle Escobar 19:53

Exactly. So let's talk about that because what I have found is a lot of those contracts, they well, those contracts, people don't really understand them. That's correct. And they don't really know what they're getting into. Um, and they think that they're gonna save money and it's not something that money that you see in your pocket right away. That's right. So let's let's start with the contracts.

Matthew Kaufman 20:18

Yes.

Michelle Escobar 20:18

Um, what are the three types of, I think it's three types of contracts, isn't it? It's the the leasing, you either owe them or the solar. Yes, with the solar.

Matthew Kaufman 20:26

Let me, if I may, just step back one step further and say, just in general, when it comes to contracts, the large print giveth and the small print taketh away, if I can quote from an American songwriter of some years ago. Uh so if the salesperson says something to you and it's important to you, and it's the reason you're going with this contractor, ask where it says that in the contract. And you will find that most of the time it doesn't. And that should give you pause to step back and say, okay, well, what does the contract actually say? Because I thought I was getting you were telling me my uh utility bills in the case of solar panels are going to be near to zero. It it says the exact opposite in the contract. It says we make no guarantee about your utility bills going down.

Michelle Escobar 21:22

That's right.

Matthew Kaufman 21:23

Oh dear. Okay, that's something to step back and consider. Um, so just in general, to be able to step back and recognize that when I'm being sold, when someone's telling me something, if it's not in writing, I can't rely on it. So that it has to be written down. The second thing about contracts that's critically important for homeowners and consumers in general to understand is that in most cases, when you're talking about a big expenditure, you can negotiate what's going to be in the contract. You can say, No, I'm not willing to sign a contract that. Has that clause.

Michelle Escobar 22:01

And you can literally scratch it out. That's right.

Matthew Kaufman 22:04

That's right. And both people, and some contracts say it can't be modified, which is fine because that means I'm not going to sign the contract now. You can have your lawyer write up a new contract that doesn't have that clause.

Michelle Escobar 22:17

That's right.

Matthew Kaufman 22:17

Or that amends that clause. Or that we include this clause. Because if you're not finished, you told me you're going to be finished by September 15th. If you're not finished by September 15th, what are the consequences? Because just having a deadline date, there's no incentive. There's no actual consequence. So you oh, it's October. We're not finished. Yeah. Wait, you said you were going to be finished. You don't get your money back.

Michelle Escobar 22:41

Right.

Matthew Kaufman 22:42

You don't get to cancel the contract unless it says in the contract, what is the consequence if you don't finish by September 15th?

Michelle Escobar 22:51

Yeah.

Matthew Kaufman 22:52

So solar, to go to that, the things to watch out for. Solar leases are very, very tricky. They are typically designed to guarantee good profits for the solar leasing company and a possible savings, not a guaranteed savings, but possible savings for the homeowner. So looking for things like what escalation clauses, where the cost of your electricity through the solar panels is going to go up every year. Why? Okay. So that's something to consider having struck from the contract, an escalation clause. Are you going to continue paying the lease fee even if the system is not working? Even if it's down for warranty repairs. So that means the company has no incentive to get your roof fixed or to get the solar system fixed because you still have to keep making the lease payments, even though you're not getting any electricity.

Michelle Escobar 23:49

That's right.

Matthew Kaufman 23:49

So reading the contract carefully and understanding the various terms and negotiating and saying, I'm not going to sign this contract under those terms. So back to your question originally, which was the three types of contracts. We have power purchase agreements, where this solar system is completely owned by the company and you're just purchasing power from it. In some ways, it's similar to when you're sold choice in your utility bill through the utility company. You can choose where your power comes from and you have a separate contract to purchase that power at a certain price. Only in this case, we're putting a solar system on your home and you're purchasing the power from that. The second type is a lease agreement, where the company owns the entire system and they put it on your home, and you have an agreement with that company for a certain period of time, usually 20 years, that you're going to pay them a lease fee, and then you get the benefit of the solar power that's generated. The third type is to purchase, where you're actually going to buy the system and either finance it or take out a loan, or if you can have the capital to pay for it, you can purchase the system outright. And then it's your system. So if it's done correctly with a reasonable contract, it's a huge benefit to the homeowner. There are pitfalls. And again, like anything else, if you don't research it ahead of time, you can end up with a lot of difficulty because there's a lot of companies out there that will sell you something and put it on your home. And if the contract doesn't hold them accountable and it's not working, uh, then you don't have a lot of recourse.

Michelle Escobar 26:04

I've had quite a few um complaints in where the solar uh system has been put on and then there's leaks afterwards. From the roof. From the roof. That's right. So it's important for that roof to be um in good condition.

Matthew Kaufman 26:21

In very good condition, preferably brand new. And so solar companies, I've certainly encountered it myself where they install a solar system on an old roof. And the homeowner just assumes that the solar system is going to help protect the roof or extend its life, or because they installed it, then they're going to deal with any leaks. You have to read what it says in the contract.

Michelle Escobar 26:47

Yeah.

Matthew Kaufman 26:48

And it's just not the case. So, yes, those kinds of things are very important to consider. Uh, the age of the roof, the condition of the roof, and what are the guarantees? What is the size of the system I'm purchasing, and what is the guarantee for that system? Um, how long do I plan to own the home? What's the terms of the lease?

Michelle Escobar 27:08

Does it even transfer to a, if I do sell the home, does the does it transfer to the new homeowner?

Matthew Kaufman 27:14

Well, that's the issue with the lease is that you don't have a choice. You the homeowner who signs that lease is responsible for that lease for the full 20 years. And if you want to sell the home and the person who's purchasing the home doesn't want the solar system, it's the homeowner's responsibility to pay the buyout for that solar system.

Michelle Escobar 27:34

That's true.

Matthew Kaufman 27:34

Or pay to have it move to a new location and continue paying the lease. It's so it can be complicated.

Michelle Escobar 27:40

Yeah.

Matthew Kaufman 27:41

Which is not to say that it it can it sometimes works out very well for homeowners. But again, a lot of that has to do with how the contract is set up and whether the work was done correctly.

When To Call Consumer Protection

Michelle Escobar 27:52

Yeah. So all this, how can OC, how how do we help? When when should residents uh reach out to us?

Matthew Kaufman 27:59

Well, I mean, they can reach out to us at any point, including in the vetting process, because we can certainly provide people, uh homeowners and and consumers, feedback on how to how to vet a contractor. Does that contractor have a license? If you don't know where to look it up in the MHIC, you can call us and we can tell you, hey, this this is where you go to look up to see if the license is active, to see if that license number is actually associated with the business we're doing business with. Um, it have we had any complaints about that contractor? So we can help from the very beginning. This to me is I I love doing these things to inform people ahead of time about what they're getting into and how to protect themselves because that's very important. I want to go back to those three categories we talked about: the criminals, the the kind of people who run in the margins and the legitimate contractors. Yeah. So in terms of criminals, it's difficult for people. Smart, educated, well-meaning, thoughtful people can be taken advantage of. I've been taken advantage of. I believe I have to you have been taken advantage of. And we're actually in consumer protection. So there's no shame in having been deceived.

Michelle Escobar 29:20

Yeah.

Matthew Kaufman 29:21

Because the people who are doing deceiving, criminals are actually practice, they're skilled. Yes. They have techniques, they've learned a lot, they have all sorts of skills that are geared towards, just like a professional who does your construction, or you go to a doctor, or you go to a lawyer, there are people who study how to deceive people.

Michelle Escobar 29:43

That's right.

Matthew Kaufman 29:43

And so being deceived is nothing to be ashamed of. So as soon as you're concerned that you may have been deceived, or that someone took cash for a job and all of a sudden you can't get in touch with them. As soon as you think there's a problem, someone calls and says, I need your account information to protect your computer or to protect your account, and you thoughtlessly do it in a rush and you give it to them, and you're like, oh no, what do I do? I wonder if anything, oh, I'll just wait and see what happens. Not a good decision.

Michelle Escobar 30:11

Yeah.

Matthew Kaufman 30:12

As soon as you think there's a problem, reach out to the Office of Consumer Protection, or in the case of scams dealing with your phone, you can call the FTC. And that's one of the values of our uh what the Office of Consumer Protection has to offer is we'll guide you. If it's not something we can help with, we'll help to guide you to who may be able to help you and where you can go to seek assistance. So the first thing is as soon as you think there's a problem, talk it over, reach out to someone. Okay.

Put Everything In Writing

Matthew Kaufman 30:42

You always start with the contractor themselves or the person themselves. So hey, Mr. or Mrs. Contractor or Ms. Contractor, whoever it is, I'm concerned about this, I have a problem. Put it in writing. That's the second thing. Yeah. When it's it should be in writing. Text is okay, email is fine, uh, a certified letter is solid.

Michelle Escobar 31:08

Yes.

Matthew Kaufman 31:09

Right. But anything in writing, not just a phone conversation, never a driveway conversation without. So if we had a driveway conversation, um, Michelle, I've, you know, I'm concerned about our uh the the timeline for the work that we've been doing. Um I thought we were gonna have it started by uh this Saturday, and you're telling me now it's gonna be next Saturday. Okay. We have the driveway conversation, you assure me I do not leave it at that. As soon as we're depart, we part, I go to our means of communication, whether that's email or text, and I say, This is my understanding of the conversation we had today.

Michelle Escobar 31:48

Yeah.

Matthew Kaufman 31:48

You're definitely starting by next Saturday, correct? And get a response, or at least put in writing that you had a conversation and this is what the understanding and expectation is. For the an actual contract for home improvement, it's called a change order. And it stipulates we've agreed to do this for this price. Here's my signature, here's your signature. That's a change order that changes the contract and says, Oh, we decided to do this side garden bed while we were doing the deck. And now we're adding that, and this is the cost we're adding on.

Michelle Escobar 32:23

Yeah. I can't stress enough how much documentation matters. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Yep. So we can mediate. Um, so if it does code maybe before it escalates to court or something, maybe we can do something um uh through mediation. Um, definitely point people to the right uh regulatory agency if needed. Um, and sometimes we can actually, you know, resolve the complaint beforehand.

Matthew Kaufman 32:50

And we enforce consumer protection.

Michelle Escobar 32:52

We do. We do.

Matthew Kaufman 32:53

So if there is a violation of consumer protection law, that would be part of an investigation. And it would be something that we would address with the merchant or contractor in this case.

Michelle Escobar 33:04

Yeah. Matt, is there any final thoughts before I ask you a the next serious and last question?

Matthew Kaufman 33:12

Okay. Um no, I think the main thing is that that to ask for help and to do your research and to and to get more than one opinion and get them in writing and vet your contractors. Yeah, not just online reviews, but also testimonials from people who've had the work done by that contractor that you're looking to get done.

Michelle Escobar 33:38

Exactly. Yes.

Final Advice

Michelle Escobar 33:41

So before we go, if you could design a clever tool for homeowners, what problem would it solve?

Matthew Kaufman 33:52

A clever tool for homeowners that would solve a problem. Fascinating. Well, I mean, the technical answer is I would provide I would provide a tool that would go into the walls without disturbing them and seal up air leakage because that's the single huge, the single largest source of energy efficiency loss in a home is air leakage through the home.

Michelle Escobar 34:17

All right. I like it. Thank you so much for sharing your expertise.

Matthew Kaufman 34:23

Absolutely.

Michelle Escobar 34:25

That wraps up today's episode. Remember, do your research, verify licensing, get clear contracts, and make informed decisions before starting any home improvement project. Solar and other upgrades can be excellent investments when approached thoughtfully. Thanks for listening to Consumer Connection. Don't forget, DM us or email us the word contractor for the How to Hire a Contractor cheat sheet. We'll see you in the next episode. Don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and keep an eye out for upcoming episodes where we'll continue to bring you important updates and insights on consumer protection. Have a topic in mind for a future episode or a question for our team? Drop us an email at consumerconnection at Montgomery CountyMD.gov. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with your friends and family and stay in the loop with OCP by searching the hashtag MCGOCP on social media. Remember, knowledge is key for safeguarding your consumer rights. Stay informed, stay protected, and stay connected. Until next time.

Announcer 35:42

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