No matter the field you are in, there will be those who are corrupted by the system. As the Filipinos say “kinain na ng sistema”. These are those who would do anything to scam off from their clients.
The construction industry has a lot of scammers. Mainly because construction projects are high-value most of the time. Good thing, Engineer Slater Young released a video that educates his audience about the most common scams and how to avoid them.
The ghost
These contractors usually offer a low price to entice clients to choose them over other contractors. When they are finally chosen, they will ask for a high downpayment and then vanish like a ghost.
How to avoid:
- Say “no” to large downpayments.
- Ask for a company profile.
- Have a site visit on their past sites to make sure they are legit.
Mr. Collect-Ka-Dyan
These kinds of contractors are accustomed to just collecting money from their clients. The unsuspecting client just gives money without realizing how much they are already wasting.
How to avoid:
- Understand “progress billing” where you only pay for what is already done.
- Always demand to have a 10% retainer fee that you will give them once the project is complete.
The two-timer
This kind of scam is usually executed by 2 or more contractors. If the scammer contractor knows who else is placing their bid on your project, they will often call other contractors and brew a plan with them causing you to pay more.
How to avoid:
- Keep everything private
Mr. Forgetful
These scammers usually use the reason that they “forget” to add things to the quotation and would ask informally for the client to add to the budget.
How to avoid:
- When reviewing quotations and estimates, make sure to check side by side and line by line.
- Weigh the pros and cons and compare
Kick-Back-Sir
Sometimes, professionals like engineers, architects, and other specifiers are corrupted by the system that they ask for kick-backs that the client pay on top of what is on the contract. What’s worse is that they don’t ask them from the client directly. Instead, they ask from the suppliers.
How to avoid:
- Be wary when a product is being pushed and forced on you.
Blind item
When a client is not too specific and nitpicky on-site, some contractors would get materials and drop them off on other projects, or on scrap yards so they can sell them. The client is unaware that the materials being brought to their site is not complete anymore.
How to avoid:
- Have an engineer on-site to check the materials.
- Be nitpicky about where your money is going.
Ironman
Anything that is made up of metal is often stolen because they are easy to sell to a scrapyard. Corrupt contractors will do everything they can to make you believe that they are doing it the right way when in reality, the vertical rebars are just pushed upwards, or the bars themselves are thinner than what is specified.
How to avoid:
- Get a trustworthy contractor
- Be doubtful if the price is too low.
That’s all the tips that Slater has in order to avoid getting scammed by these common scammers in the contractor field. When you start building your dream house, be wary of these scammers’ plots and of course, hire the right professionals.
Watch his video below:
Mr. Young, po,
My contractor has been working on a project for 32 months stipulated to be completed in 6 months. A second phase, stipulated to be completed in “7 to 8 months or no more than one year,” is now at 24 months. But that is not the worst.
Skipping over the faulty work and numerous building code violations (“We don’t have to follow the law, we are in the province.”), the worst is this. We never received our copy of the contract. When, frustrated as seniors and seeing our lives passing by (this process began approximately 7 years ago and I turn 73 in two days), we demanded a copy, it appears that is not what we received.. Instead it seems something was concocted to appear to be our contract but with strange language appearing absolutely specific to our complaints (as if we had agreed to the things we now complain about) and with signatures “pasted” onto the document, scanned, and delivered to us. We have requested the original with “wet signatures” but we will see.
I used to be American (I am determined to be Filipino now!) so I am unfamiliar with laws here. Since we are talking about approximately 4m remaining to be paid, and considering if our interpretation of the document we were given is in fact correct (it might not be, but a shadow over the signature suggests something is not right), this contractor is willing to commit gross fraud, risk losing his company’s license and jail time (in the U.S.) for such a small amount. This causes us to be concerned about being harmed to stop us when the phony documents didn’t.
And, sadly, this is my son-in-law.
What can we do? We are still renting as we have no other place to live, a different son-in-law has Stage IV cancer in 6 organs at age 27 and we are doing our best to provide what we can for him, our daughter, and our two granddaughters we had hope to have living with us in the second building. and we find ourselves almost to the end of our funds and certainly millions from having both buildings complete.
Thank you for taking the time if you see this message.