Does your state make complaints public info? If so, any agency that deals in the building trades or licensing, or consumer protection, may have info you can use to at least avoid the ones they have complaints on already. Also, court records are public but not always convenient to search if not online. You can find out from your state's secretary of state office, usually, what other names or corporation names a contractor has gone by, to see if there's a pattern of dissolving corporations to get out of paying judgments or debts. Asking past customers of a developer is easier because you can go by property records and ask customers you choose to ask, not just hand-selected "references." With a remodeler, that's not likely to work. But, if the records are public, see if the contractor you're considering has filed any mechanic's liens, (or if his suppliers have had to), and then try to find those homeowenrs and ask them their side of the story. Oftentimes they paid the contractor, but the contractor didn't pay his supplier. Or, they stopped paying a contractor when he didn't perform, and he placed the lien himself, even if not valid. It happens. Like the other suggestions said, ask peole who know, like suppliers, lawyers, etc, but unfortunately there's no guarantees.
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19 years ago