Consult multiple trustworthy sources before hiring a contractor, experts say

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — Experts say the problems a local woman experienced after she hired a contractor based on a referral from Home Depot serve as a good reminder to always consult multiple sources before hiring someone to do work around your house.

Last week, News 4 reported a Warr Acres woman has been unable to use her backyard or pool after a contractor she hired to replace her deck never finished the job.

“I'm not allowed in the back yard because there's nails and broken boards,” Fike said last week.

Anita Fike hired Norman-based contractor ‘Dan the Handyman’ to replace her deck back in September.

Fike said she hired him after finding his name on an Oklahoma City Home Depot Store’s ‘Pro Referral List.’

“[Home Depot] gave me a list of names of people that did [decks],” Fike said. “A couple of them replied and we interviewed [Dan the Handyman] and decided to go with him.

News 4 reported last week ‘Dan the Handyman’ rarely showed back up to Fike’s house after his crew tore off her old decking in September 2023.

Fike, her daughter and son told News 4 ‘Dan the Handyman’ kept giving them different excuses as to why he could not show up to complete the work.

Fike said she couldn’t believe a trusted source like Home Depot could have referred him.

But experts with the Better Business Bureau tell News 4 they frequently receive complaints about contractors customers hired after receiving a referral from a trustworthy source.

“It's a pretty frequent story,” said Kitt Letcher, President and CEO of the Better Business Bureau of Central Oklahoma.

Letcher says, even though commonly trusted referral sources like Home Depot, Lowe’s, Angi and others all do some form of due diligence before putting a contractor on their lists, sometimes things can slip through the crack.

“Unfortunately, people can have bad experiences with contractors, regardless of where they have found those contractors,” Letcher said.

In Fike’s case, she reached out to Home Depot and asked if they could do anything to fix her problems.

“They claimed that they aren't responsible, that these are just men that they have on their list,” Fike said.

News 4 reached out to Home Depot’s corporate office. A spokesperson said Home Depot does not bear any liability for problems caused by contractors on its Pro Referral List.

“We take these matters very seriously,” the spokesperson said. “We go to great lengths to make sure our Pro Referral program matches customers with qualified Pros in their area. We do mandatory background checks on the Pro contractors before they can join our Pro Referral’s Pro network. The Pros are required to carry insurance and a license if the state requires it. We periodically monitor them once they are in our database. The contractors are not directly hired by Home Depot nor do we receive any money from them or the customer. When a Pro contacts a customer, the contractor is acting on their sole behalf and is not a representative of Pro Referral or The Home Depot.”

News 4 reviewed the terms and conditions customers must agree to in order to use Home Depot’s ‘Pro Referral’ system.

A clause in it says:

“When a Pro contacts a Consumer, the Pro is acting on the Pro’s sole behalf and is not a representative or agent of Pro Referral, The Home Depot, or their affiliates. You agree that Pro Referral is not responsible for the accessibility or unavailability of any Pro or for your interactions and dealings with any Pro, waive the right to bring or assert any claim against Pro Referral relating to any interactions or dealings with any Pro, and release Pro Referral from any and all liability for or relating to any interactions or dealings with any Pro. If Consumer decides to use the Pro’s services after submitting a Pro Request, Consumer and Pro may enter into an agreement for the Pro to perform services and the Consumer to pay the Pro for the services rendered. This agreement is solely between the Consumer and Pro. Pro Referral, The Home Depot, and their affiliates are not parties to such agreement. Pro Referral, The Home Depot and their affiliates are not and will not be parties or third-party beneficiaries to any agreements entered into by and between Consumer and Pro. Accordingly, please consider carefully before you agree to a Pro’s offered services.”

Letcher says that’s why it’s important to read the fine print, and seek out referrals from more than one trustworthy source before you hire someone.

“Do your homework and check multiple sources,” Letcher said. “Definitely look at them through BBB.org. You can even look them up on the attorney general's website. It can be really helpful to see if there's any consumer action against them there. And you can look at the license industries boards for the industry that they're in.”

Letcher says if your contractor is BBB accredited, the BBB can hold them accountable if they do not follow through on work they’ve been hired do.

“When you're using businesses, especially businesses that are credited with Better Business Bureau, those businesses have agreed to abide by our standards of trust, and one of them is transparency and making sure that they honor, their promise, making sure that they're transparent in the transaction,” Letcher said. “And if you do have a complaint, they're actually going to resolve that complaint.”

She says, even once you’ve consulted numerous trustworthy sources, do not let a contractor rush you into signing any agreements until you are fully comfortable.

“Read the fine print of any contract that you're signing, even if the person says this is a standard contract—no contract is standard,” Letcher said. “Having a complete contract and scope of work is important because if you compare two bids—and one's really detailed—you know everything that's going to be included… what type of labor that includes, how many hours, the type of materials they're planning to purchase if there's any demolition work that goes into it. I would want all of those things specified on my scope of work so that I understand exactly what I'm paying for.”