DENVER — From kitchen remodels to landscaping and even gutter cleaning, Colorado homeowners often use the warmer months to tackle long‑planned home projects, but the Better Business Bureau warns the ramp‑up in hiring contractors also marks the start of “spring scam season.”
“We see an influx in people hiring contractors or hiring home service businesses,” said Meghan Conradt, director of foundation with the Better Business Bureau. “And unfortunately, sometimes we’ll also see an influx in complaints or experiences that aren’t great with hiring professionals to work on your home.”
Denver7's Jaclyn Allen shares tips on how to avoid these scams.
Denver7 Investigates has covered multiple cases where Colorado homeowners lost big to bad contractors, often tens of thousands of dollars, left with gutted interiors or shoddy repairs.
Conradt said the first step in avoiding a scam is doing your homework.
“Make sure that you are obtaining the right documentation for businesses. So when you're looking to hire them, make sure that they are licensed, make sure that they have proof of insurance, make sure they've pulled a permit for the work that they're doing, if that's applicable,” she said.
Three tips from the BBB to avoid contractor scams:
- Don’t pay too much up front: “When a business is asking for a really large upfront deposit, it's just a good time to pause and ask some more questions,” Conradt said. BBB advises paying no more than 25% of the total project cost up front before work begins.
- Verify licenses and references: This means checking with state licensing agencies and calling recent clients about their experiences.
- Get everything in writing: Have a contract that includes scope of work, payment schedule, timeline, proof of insurance and permits, and all important details.
Scammers can be hard to track down, and recovering your money isn’t guaranteed.
“Once they take off, it can be really hard to get that money back,” Conradt said. “You could take them to court. It's just that that process tends to be really long and drawn out, and we often do not see people get restitution through that.”
If you’ve been scammed:
- File a complaint with the BBB at bbb.org to document the incident.
- Report to the Colorado Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division: coag.gov/file-complaint
- Contact local law enforcement if you suspect fraud.
- Retain documentation: contracts, receipts, communications and photos of work.
The BBB’s Restoring Trust Program lists vetted companies and offers help recovering if a contractor disappears, Conradt said.
“It's imperative to do your homework before the project starts,” she said. “Because once you're in that situation where they've compromised your project or done substandard work on the house, that's where we just see it turning into a really big legal mess.”
