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Don't fall for the scam: How to know if your contractor is legit

Joe Prin (right) joins Idaho Matters Senior Producer Samantha Wright in studio.
Katie Kloppenburg
/
Boise State Public Radio
Joe Prin (right) joins Idaho Matters Senior Producer Samantha Wright in the studio.

The doorbell rings, and someone is standing in the driveway who says, “I can replace your driveway or fix your roof for $100,” or some other ridiculously low amount. It sounds too good to be true.

So, is it true? We hear every day about people getting scammed by fake or unregistered contractors, who rip up the driveway, take cash and disappear, leaving homeowners with a giant mess.

A couple of months back, we were talking about scams like this on our Reporter Roundtable, and apparently Joe Prin was listening because he emailed us and wanted to talk about contractors — the bad and the good — and why consumers have to be careful when it comes to having anything done on their home.

Joe hosts the Homefix Radio Show every Saturday Morning on KBOI. He was a contractor for almost 20 years, but he’s been talking about contracting for much longer than that, and he joined Idaho Matters to tell us more.

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