Did you know in Massachusetts there is a Home Improvement Contractor (HIC) program? Offered by the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, "the Home Improvement Contractor (HIC) law was created in 1992 to protect consumers and regulate the business practices of contractors." Furthermore, according to the HIC program website, "all contractors, partnerships, and corporations that solicit, bid on, or perform residential contracting as a contractor or subcontractor on an existing one to four unit owner occupied residential property in Massachusetts must be registered as a Home Improvement Contractor." Rest assured, RR Veteran Contracting is a licensed contractor (HIC # 188267).
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A lot of times, customers ask for a realtor recommendation. So, who does RR recommend? Linda Mellett of Century 21 Marella Realty! She actually shares a lot of great real estate and home improvement content on her website, including this recent article, titled, "5 Signs It's Time to Sell Your Home": http://lindamellett.myhomehq.biz/5-signs-youre-ready-to-sell
Favorite part from this article: "Home improvements -- Renovations may be a wise investment, but it's best to avoid listing your home in the middle of a project. If you plan to sell your home as is, completing some minor home updates such as new paint and fixtures can be a huge selling point." Check out Linda's website through the link above, and feel free to sign up for her newsletter! Massachusetts just endured another big storm. A Nor'easter dubbed Winter Storm Riley by The Weather Channel. And what a powerful storm it was, as it wreaked havoc on many homes and businesses. Furthermore, many people were left without power (and many are still without power). A map of Massachusetts power outages can be viewed here: https://poweroutage.us/area/state/massachusetts. As of this morning, nearly 200,000 state power outages remain. Read more on power outages here: https://patch.com/massachusetts/boston/power-outages-storm-aftermath-greater-boston.
See below for a photo I captured during the storm (I live in a Coastal area). Feel free to share yours too. Fortunately, the only damage my home endured was a partially damaged fence, and as a general contractor/handyman, I was able to fix it myself (see photo below). Stay safe residents of Massachusetts! Last week, Massachusetts encountered a major winter storm. Several areas saw over a foot of snowfall, including Milton MA, Braintree MA, and Quincy MA, and Weymouth MA. Coastal areas, like Scituate MA, encountered severe flooding. And many homeowners reported having frozen pipes (read how to prevent and deal with frozen pipes here: https://www.mass.gov/news/preventing-and-dealing-with-frozen-pipes).
Were you prepared for the recent storm? If not, check out the severe weather guide published by Family Handyman, which includes lots of great tips and suggestions, i.e., having a storm readiness kit, installing storm shutters, caulking any openings in the walls, reinforcing entry doors, building a safe room, and protecting your pets. The guide can be found here: https://www.familyhandyman.com/smart-homeowner/protect-your-home-and-family-severe-weather-guide/view-all/ Need help repairing your walls after plumbing work on frozen pipes? Contact RR Veteran Contracting! In their original news report, the I-Team reports that Lowes violated the MA Home Improvement law: http://boston.cbslocal.com/2017/10/10/lowes-home-improvement-contracts-pay-in-full-deposit-wbz-i-team/. The follow up report: http://boston.cbslocal.com/2017/10/11/lowes-policy-violates-mass-law/.
The main takeaway is that for home improvement jobs over $1000 in Massachusetts, deposits cannot exceed 1/3 of the total contract price before work begins (excluding the cost of any custom orders). In response to the I-Team investigation, Lowe's updated their home improvement contract policy to comply with the law. This goes to show that it's not always best to hire the big chain stores for home improvement jobs; depending on the job, you may be better off hiring local, independent contractors. Especially since in this particular case, subcontractors were hired to do the job anyway. |
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