(WHTM) — With slowing demand for home improvement this year, you would think it would be easier than ever to find a contractor right now, but finding a good one is as tough as ever.

“Cute little house, very cozy,” Tiana Lynch said that’s what she loved about her new home, until a contractor rehab job made it uninhabitable.

“Right in here. Water? Water, pouring from the ceiling,” Lynch said about the very first time she used her upstairs shower she says water cascaded into the lower bathroom.

She says a home inspector told her the work needs to be redone. “She told me the whole thing needs to be taken down and thrown away,” Lynch said.

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That was just the start: she showed me upside-down electrical outlets and a sloppy paint job. Lynch said she paid over $13,000 for the sloppy paint job.

There are no shortage of jobs for contractors right now. Unfortunately, there are also no shortage of complaints against them. But that’s starting to change.

Adam Crowell – who is not the contractor who worked on Lynch’s house — says overworked contractors are just now catching up with all the backlogs of the past two years. “It’s kind of one of those where our foot has been on the gas pedal the whole time and we haven’t backed off at all since the pandemic hit,” he said.

His suggestions to find a good one:

• get referrals from neighbors
• check Angie’s List and Home Advisor for lists of recommended contractors.
• check their review at the Better Business Bureau.
• and never pay the full price upfront, or there is no incentive for the contractor to finish the job.

Lynch said she has had enough. “It was just excuses after excuses,” she said. And only wishes she had read online reviews before hiring him.

So get recommendations and check any contractor’s BBB file, so you don’t waste your money.

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