Articles of Interest

“When disasters such as the devastating fires that destroyed wide swaths of Southern California occur, the vultures come out to further victimize people already vulnerable,” warned Tom Wheeler, President of California Contractors Network Self Insured Group. This member-owned association of licensed contractors – which represents 130 contractors with more than 25,000 workers across California – warns homeowners to beware being duped into hiring unlicensed contractors to do clean-up and repair work.

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The average construction worker is well into his 40s, and unless something changes to make the fresh-from-prom set take a sudden interest in framing and drywall, that work force is just going to keep getting older.

In an industry where retirement tends to come early and knowledge is passed down on the job, that trend presents a potentially paralyzing problem — especially as demand for workers continues to rise.

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The Better Business Bureau received more than a quarter of a million requests for reports on general and roofing contractors and construction and remodeling services in 2006, its latest reporting year. It processed just more than 24,000 complaints. In fiscal year 2006-07, 10,498 complaints were filed through the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, the state’s licensing body, said press secretary Alexis Antonacci. Don’t want to become a statistic? Gathered from resources at the Pinellas County Construction Licensing Board, Pinellas County Consumer Services, and DBPR, here are some guidelines to make the process less painful.

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