When a storm rolls through your neighborhood, the damage to your home might only be the beginning of your problems. Within hours, door-to-door contractors appear, offering quick fixes at prices that seem almost too good to be true — and they often are.
Home repair scams are a persistent problem year-round. The FTC received 81,925 related complaints in 2024, the most recent year for which data is available, while a JW Surety Bonds survey found that roughly one in 10 Americans had been victimized by a contractor scam in 2023. But the threat is sharpest after severe weather, when repairs are urgent and due diligence gets tossed out the veritable window.
Jon Grishpul, co-founder of the contractor matching service GreatBuildz, says that supply and demand create a sense of urgency to get the issue fixed. When severe weather strikes, the good contractors get booked up fast.
“So [homeowners] get a little bit more desperate, and are more likely to hire a contractor quickly,” Grishpul says, potentially ignoring warning signs.
The pressure to make fast decisions with limited information is exactly what fraudsters exploit. Roofing Contractor magazine reported in February that following recent winter weather events, unlicensed crews were swarming storm-affected neighborhoods with low bids and promises of fast turnarounds.
Winter storms are prime time for repair cons
This winter has given fraudsters plenty of material to work with. At least six major storms have hit the continental U.S. since late November. Winter Storm Fern alone was estimated to generate $6.7 billion in insured losses across more than 30 states, according to catastrophe modeler Karen Clark & Company, ranking it among the costliest winter storms since 1950.
Paul Dashevsky, a construction expert with over 30 years in the industry, warns that some contractors are notorious for submitting lowball offers. Most bids might come in between $45,000 and $50,000, then suddenly you’ll get one that’s $25,000.
Dashevsky says you should ask yourself how they can offer such a good deal, especially since material and labor costs are fairly standard. The answer, he adds, is usually one of two things: they’re using leftover materials from a previous job or their workers aren’t qualified.
And that’s only assuming the contractor has any intention of following up on their end of the deal. The reality is that they could be trying to weasel you into paying them for a job they never intend to finish — or even start.
How scammers find their victims
A standard home repair scam begins with an unsolicited knock on the door, likely followed by a free inspection offer and the sudden discovery of damage, real or exaggerated.
“They’ll say the right things to get you to worry and do [something] like give a deposit to somebody you don’t really know,” Dashevsky says, who insists that you “should never make a decision on a major purchase like that on day one.”
But pressure tactics can make it harder to tell a smart choice from a short-sighted one.
Fraudulent contractors will often invoke urgency to get a large payment in advance, saying something like “your roof could collapse before the next storm” or “this price is only good today.” They can also apply social pressure by claiming to have already worked on a neighbor’s house. Then, they might perform minimal, substandard work before moving on. Or they may disappear entirely.
Some states have strict rules around how much a contractor can request for an advance payment. For example, in California, the maximum that may be required is the lesser of $1,000 or 10% of the contract price. According to Grishpul, dishonest contractors may ignore those regulations completely, sometimes asking as much as 50% of the cost estimate.
In some cases, a contractor might even suggest scamming your own home insurance company by filing for more than what a claim is actually worth. Or, the contractor may cause more damage to inflate the insurance claim.
“It’s insurance fraud, but it happens all the time because most homeowners are like, ‘A free $10,000 or $20,000? What can go wrong’” Dashevsky says. “Even if you don’t get caught, is this the kind of contractor you want to work with?”
Protecting yourself from home repair fraud
The most effective defense against fraudsters is simple: slow down.
Call your insurance company before allowing anyone to inspect your property. Grishpul highlights that home insurance will cover immediate repairs “just to stop the bleeding” so you can properly vet and evaluate a contractor before you hire them to make the actual fix.
Make sure to confirm if a contractor is legitimate through your state licensing board before agreeing to anything. You should be able to see their license, the owner’s name, how long they’ve been in business and if they have a bond, workers’ compensation insurance and general liability insurance.
Looking at online reviews is also a good idea, but ratings can be skewed by overly positive or negative feedback. In some cases, the reviews themselves might be fabricated. Instead, use them to search for references: ask whether they were homeowners or partners, what the relationship was like, how everything went, what the initial bid was and what the project ended up costing.
Once you decide on a contractor, it’s crucial to use a traceable payment method.
“Some shady contractors will ask you to pay with cash. They’ll say: ‘I can give you an even better discount if you just pay cash. You can avoid the tax; I can avoid the tax. I’ll pass those savings on to you.’ Terrible idea,” Grishpul says, who urges consumers to always leave a paper trail.
Ultimately, he adds, vetting a contractor is very much like dating. Everyone’s going to be on their best behavior during the first date. But as you get to know them better, some red flags might start to surface.
“If the contractor is difficult to communicate with, if they’re ghosting you, or if they’re being unprofessional in any way, that is a tell-tale sign that they’re likely not gonna treat you any better once you hire them,” Grishpul says.
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