Bad update in post 4.Help this happens with the contractor working next door. WWYD?

[JustMe]

The house next to me has been vacated for several months and there has been work being done on it (its visible that this is happening). There are absent landlords and I do not have their contact info. I share a fence with them and the guy doing some of the work just knocked on my door and asked if he could get into my side of the fence and also some how raise it and put it back down (he did not say "some how" but described it. My brain just doesn't work that way so I dont remember what he said). He says they are doing foundation work, which I believe as a lot of foundation work was needed on my home before I bought it. I feel so untrusting these days. I said yes, as it seems to be a reasonable request and he is clearly working on the other house. He offered to clean my leaves up for me for free in exchange. However, we got into a discussion about how a part of my fence that is just mine never worked the way it should (long story, but I have tried to get someone to fix this forever and I have just thrown out money). He said he will buy the supplies which are less than $100, I can reimburse him and he will do the work for free. I said okay, do that instead of the leaf clean up he originally offered. Things are just so unsafe feeling these days and I don't know if I did the right thing. He said he did not have a card, but I looked up the name of his business and it matches the name and phone number he gave me. In googling them, there are some scary reviews (2) from a google search about absconding money from insurance and not completing work and all positive reviews on the facebook page...now I looked up on the CCB site and his company is not on there as licensed. WWYD? I have him my phone number and took his. Should I text and tell him to forget about picking up my supplies? Anything else?

[Liziz]

I think there's a good chance he's an honest guy and is just trying to do his job. Especially with this all being outside work, I would not be particularly concerned from a safety point of view. However, two things make me uncomfortable. One, any contractor doing work anywhere on your property should be licensed and bonded. I would text him and ask. Second, I wouldn't want anyone doing anything on my property unless I had a way to contact the owners of that house/person that hired him. If something goes wrong with his work, I'd want to be able to address it with the person who wants the work done. I know you said you don't have their info -- I'd ask the contractor to give you the contact information too.

[doberbrat]

If you're reimbursing him after the work is done, its not a scam. He's actually trusting that you'll pay him. Now as far as licensing, you can decide whether you want an unlicensed person doing a small job for you.

[JustMe]

Well, I have an update and it's not good. I decided to post about this on my local neighborhood Facebook group. Got responses from a couple of people that this guy is trouble. Got private messages from a woman who I basically know. She is a friend of a friend. and I have since spoken to that friend who verifed this. This friend of a friend sent me screenshots of the CCB website that shows this guy was $750,000 in claims and something like $5000 in civil fines. She said he used to be his neighbor, and give her trouble to the point that she moved. she suspect some other things but I won't go into those details. In any case, I texted him and told him I knew he was not licensed or bonded and told him I did not want him to do any work on my property or come on my property. I tried to be nice, and apologize for the inconvenience of changing my mind. He has not replied to my texts. This is one of those very few situations when I really do not like being a single woman.

[TwinFoxes]

Ugh, this sounds like bad news. There's no time machine, but I would not have told him "I know you're not licensed and bonded" because he is clearly dishonest and maybe worse. I would have fibbed and said "my husband doesn't want anyone on our property, sorry." He doesn't know you're single. There are a lot of scammers out there. I'd like to give people the benefit of the doubt, but this guy sounds like he doesn't deserve it. My advice would be not to antagonize or accuse him.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Bummer. But, I think you’re stressing more than you need to.
In the future, never accept any unsolicited help. We hired roofers once that had worked on our neighbors house for years. I asked them if they could replace our garage roof and the one roofer said, “I’ve seen that for years while working on the neighbor’s roof but I’d never come and solicit extra work.” I appreciated that.
Honestly, your worker could have been fine. It was such a minor job. It wasn’t like a huge, expensive job that really would have been a huge headache.


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[JustMe]

Baby Bargains[/URL]

Except that it looks like part of his history is claiming he was given jobs that he was not given. Difficult to go into all of it, but he is a major scam artist;his license was revoked and he is not supposed to be working (I have this from a reliable source and its on the CCB website when I look at inactive files).

[Kestrel]

First thing in the morning, I would take photos of the existing fence, in case he does do anything. I don't think he will, but having photos won't hurt.

[sariana]

Report the whole situation to the CCB. They may initiate an investigation.

[California]

Sounds like you did many things right! You got enough background info to refuse to have him work in your backyard. You saved yourself a lot of trouble. Do you have any way to contact the owners of the house next-door? I'd just want to make sure that you confirm that this guy knows that he cannot work on your fence or go in your yard. He sounds like the type to pretend that he never got your text. I'd post notices on the fence and on your door if you can't get in touch with the homeowners.