Consumer Affairs on the lookout for unregistered home improvement contractors

Posted on July 28, 2011 by admin

WESTAMPTON — The vans and pickups began pulling into the Home
Depot parking lot shortly after sunrise as contractors from across
the region loaded up on supplies for an early start to their
workday.

The contractors weren’t the only ones up early Wednesday
morning. Joining them were two investigators from the New Jersey
Division of Consumer Affairs who were outside the Route 541 store
looking for any contractors out of compliance with a law that
requires them to register with the state and display their
registration number on their work vehicles.

To register, a contractor must give proof of liability
insurance, disclose a legitimate business address, and provide
other information about the business. After obtaining a
registration number, contractors must display that number on all
contracts, advertisements, signs, and work vehicles as a reference
for consumers.

The inspectors didn’t have to wait long to find violators, and
within a few short hours the pair had issued warning notices to
four people.

Carl Leonard of Cutting Edge Tile was one of the four. Although
the Princeton contractor said he was unaware of the five-year-old
registration requirement, he promised to do so quickly. He also
said he understood the need for the rule.

“There are a lot of cheap guys out there and Mickey Mouse
stuff,” Leonard said Wednesday after speaking to the investigators.
“If this is going to weed out illegitimate contractors, then I’m
all for it.”

Protecting consumers from crooked contractors is the goal of
operations like Wednesday’s.

Last year, the division fielded more than 1,400 consumer
complaints about contractors who either billed customers well above
their original bids or accepted money upfront but performed shoddy
work or no work at all.

“People have lost tens of thousands of dollars from crooked
contractors,” division spokesman Neal Buccino said.

The numbers have only increased as the economic downturn has
prompted more and more people to take up home improvement work as
either their primary occupation or part-time profession.

In fact, home improvement contractors accounted for the
second-most complaints fielded by the state, behind automobile
sales.

With that in mind, acting Division Director Thomas R. Calcagni
initiated a more aggressive approach to enforcement. Instead of
just looking into complaints, division investigators as well as
those in county offices have visited home improvement and hardware
stores in each of New Jersey’s 21 counties to issue warning notices
to noncompliant contractors.

Since initiating the effort in March, the division has
issued more than 200 notices to contractors, including seven
Wednesday in Burlington County.

The notices carry a $5,000 fine for unregistered contractors and
a $500 fine for those who are registered but have failed to display
their registration number. Contractors who register within 30 days
or provide the division with photographs of their vehicles with the
number properly displayed are eligible for reduced fines.

Since March, 90 contractors who received notices have either
registered or sent in proof of compliance.

Buccino said the registry is intended to be a resource to
consumers. Before hiring a contractor, consumers are urged to
obtain his state registration number, which always begins with
13VH, and call the division’s license verification line at
973-273-8090 to learn whether the license is still valid or if any
complaints have been filed about the contractor.

Consumers also can check the division database at
www.NJConsumerAffairs.gov/LVinfo.htm or call the county Consumer
Affairs office at 609-265-5054.

Registration materials for contractors also are available on the
division’s website at
www.NJConsumerAffairs.gov/HIC/HIC_application.htm.

Renee Borstad, the county’s Consumer Affairs director, said the
state’s enforcement action is needed.

“The registration law has been in effect for five years, but we
still hear about problems,” Borstad said. “I think the state is
doing it right coming out here.”

Carol Ann Short, chief operating officer with the New Jersey
Builders Association, said the association was involved in creating
the registration law and continues to support it.

“It’s helped professionalize the industry and eliminate a lot of
duplicate registration requirements that existed previously at the
municipal level,” Short said, adding that the law also addresses
dishonest contractors who accept money and then bolt.

“We were 100 percent supportive of curbing that behavior,” she
said. “The registration act has located all contractors in one
place, it eliminates duplication and helps find the bad
actors.”

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