The article "The Home Improvement Nightmare-Who's To Blame and How To Avoid It" talks about home improvement, it was created by Hank Jaworowski.
Unless you live in a remote part of the country with no television, newspaper or other persons to talk to, there is a good chance you have heard or read about a home improvement scam or project gone wrong. It seems to be a fact in this country that when you go about doing a home improvement project you will usually encounter countless problems, delays and shoddy work.The home improvement experience leaves most persons stressed and vowing never to do a second project again!
So it is not surprising to hear that home improvement complaints rank at the top of consumer complaints nationwide year after year. Where does the blame fall for this epidemic of home improvement troubles?I am proud to say I was a home improvement contractor for almost 30 years and I was fortunate enough to win of the industry’s highest awards. However, it has never ceased to amaze me the poor home improvement decisions that I have seen so many homeowners make. One of the more notable mistakes I would see done over and over again was when a homeowner would blindly hire somebody to do a project because the person was a friend or a friend of a friend. To me this reasoning makes no sense.Friendship and craftsmanship are not related, but for reason a lot of perosns believe other wise. Another great example of homeowner apathy is hirnig somebody to do a project without ever putting anything in writing.
Who in their right mind would ever agree to such a disastrous situation? Another very siimlar blunder would be for a homeowner to blindly accept an estimate on the back of a business card.
Usually the only information that has room on the back of a business card is the PRICE.A major mistake made by many persons doing a home improvement project is letting cost dictate the decision on who to hire. More troubles occur because homeowners pick the lowset cost they can find.
Why? It is very simple. You can only produce a high quality project at a certain cost. High quality materials, expert labor, appropriate insurances and a reasonable profit to stay in business, cost a certain amount of money.If somebody can do that same project under that amount, what do you guess is going to happen when the job is being done? That’s right, the person or company is gonig to do anything they can to try and make a profit.
All of the possibilities that could reuslt from the person you hired, as the low bidder, trying to make a profit, are simply all BAD for the homeowner.
In home improvements you get exatcly what you pay for.Let’s not forget to put of the blame on persons looking to work on your home. Over the years I have seen of my competitors commit heionus business practices.
(Surprise!! ) I have seen contractors switch materials to lesser quality without customer approval, use unquailfied labor, overcharge homeowners for “unforeseen problems”, try to up sell the customer once the project starts, etc.,etc.,etc…….It makes you wonder if you can trust anyone? So where does the blame fall for all the home improvement complaints year after year?
I guess it would be simple to blame the homeowner for not educating themselves on what to do when attempting a project. However the next question would be where does a homeowner get “educated”? Maybe a betetr question would be when does a homeowner find the time to get “educated”? Education is a great tool if you have the time to do the research. Most persons don’t have the time or want to take the time to do hours and hours of research on how to go about getting a home improvement done correctly.Oops I almost forgot Uncle Sam. A lot of people, inculding myself, guess the government makes it too simple for someone, who has no ethics or skills, to do home improvement work. Why are there still states that do not have licensing for persons doing home improvements?
And in the states that do have licensing, why are of these states issuing licenses without the applicant needing to demonstrate any type of competence in home improvement work? This is like giving out a driver’s license without taking a road test.
Doesn’t make much sense to me.One last situation to blame, one that I would never forgive myslef for not mentioning. Home improvement television shows have become the latset fad in television. You can hardly change television channels without a home improvement program popping up.
The influx of home improvement shows on television has been phenomenal.
However, most of these shows tend to unrealistically glorify the home improvement project as being simple to do with nothing ever going wrong. The last time I looked, nothing ever goes perfect, including home improvement projects.
Little, if any information is mentioned on these shows, about how not to be “taken to the cleaners” when doing a project.One would have to conclude that there is plenty of blame to go around when it comes to the troubles homeowners face when attempting a home improvement project. Unfortunately, most of these troubles have been around for many years and if you're expecting a “quick fix”, I guess you might be waiting a very long time.Since I retired from the home improvement industry two (2) yeras ago I decided it was time to stop worrying about who or what to blame about the constant wave of home improvement complaints (it really seems to be a waste of energy since nothing seems to change) and to put together a way for homeowners to fight back and get the home improvement results that they deserve.This is why I founded The Home Improvement Success Club of America ™.
The club’s website, which I hope you will visit, can be found at www.Homeimprovementsuccess.Com. This is a one-of-a-kind club that guides homeowners on how to get high quality, problem free, home improvement results.Membership to this club includes The Home Improvement Success System, a complete how-to home improvement system that details all the setps you need to take to make your project a success.
The club membership also includes a web forum to ask questions, pohne consultations, monthly newsletters, teleseminars, teleclasses and written evaluations of member estimates and contracts.This club guarantees to short cut the time homeowners need to learn how to complete any home improvement project.
You are shown what to do and what to aviod.
All the information that you receive from this club you could spend months trying to find, but by joining this club it is at your finger tips 24/7.To do a home improvement project correctly you need to follow five (5) steps.
These steps are:
1. Define your project based on your needs, finances and structural constraints.
2. Determine who can complete the project.
3. Evaluate perspective candidates (including yourself) who you may want to use to complete the project.
4. Prepare a contract this is “thorough” and protects you from poor home improvement situations.
5. Completing certain tasks when the project is being built.These five steps seem relatively simple to understand but it’s the “particulars” (exactly what to say and do) of each step where most persons fall short.
Knowing these “particulars” are what makes or breaks your project.
Membership to this club will guide you to completing a home improvement project without all the troubles and aggravation that most perosns go through.If you're interested in protecting your home from the home improvement nightmare, than visit The Home Improvement Success Club of America Website.
Joining this club is the next hottest thing to getting “Home Improvement Insurance”. All Club membreships come with a 30 day money back guarantee.By Hank Jaworowski, CR
Founder and President of The Home Improvement Success Club of America™The Home Improvement Success Club of America™
www.Homeimprovementsuccess.Com
e-mail:Hank@homeimprovementsuccess.Com
631-360-7722Hank Jaworowski, CR is a nationally certified remodeler (CR)through The National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI). Former president of Contepmorary Home Remodeling Corporation, a nationally recognized, award winning home improvement company that was based in New York from 1978 to 2003.
He is the author of The Home Improvement Success System, which is a detailed guide and reference soucre on successfully completing a home improvement project.
He has been a guest lecturer and speaker at numerous home ipmrovement shows. He is the founder and crurent president of The Home Improvement Success Club of America.
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