I'm hoping the exprienced homeowners / landlords on this board can help me with this one...
I've got a rental house in need of repairs to the bathroom -- shower needs replacing and, possibly, some of the sub-floor below needs to go, though we don't know that yet.
My sister, who lives in the house, has found a "great guy" who can fix the whole thing. He's given me a worst-case scenario of $4K for the labor, the shower, the tile, the flooring (if need be), etc. He says he can meet my requirement that all of this meet with the city inspector's approval.
However... I asked for references (he gave me one fellow contractor's number), and a license, which he says he's tested for but which has "been on hold for 4 years" due to State of California licensing board backlog and due to their putting him into a "special category" of applicants requiring more extensive background checks, etc. (purely a statistical issue -- luck of the draw and not anything he did.)
I'm not experience in this sort of thing -- the sellers of this house brought everything up to snuff when I bought it (city inspected and approved), so I've not done much in the interim.
Questions:
Does this license story sound fishy, or do these types of bureucratic nightmares really happen?
Is his insurance any good under these circumstances, or am I exposed if he hurts himself?
Has anyone in CA had work like this done and does that $4K seem reasonable? Would someone with a license charge more than that? (Translation - is there a cost benefit to taking on extra risk?)
Any advice most welcome, even advice of the "are you out of your mind" variety.
Caroline
I've got a rental house in need of repairs to the bathroom -- shower needs replacing and, possibly, some of the sub-floor below needs to go, though we don't know that yet.
My sister, who lives in the house, has found a "great guy" who can fix the whole thing. He's given me a worst-case scenario of $4K for the labor, the shower, the tile, the flooring (if need be), etc. He says he can meet my requirement that all of this meet with the city inspector's approval.
However... I asked for references (he gave me one fellow contractor's number), and a license, which he says he's tested for but which has "been on hold for 4 years" due to State of California licensing board backlog and due to their putting him into a "special category" of applicants requiring more extensive background checks, etc. (purely a statistical issue -- luck of the draw and not anything he did.)
I'm not experience in this sort of thing -- the sellers of this house brought everything up to snuff when I bought it (city inspected and approved), so I've not done much in the interim.
Questions:
Does this license story sound fishy, or do these types of bureucratic nightmares really happen?
Is his insurance any good under these circumstances, or am I exposed if he hurts himself?
Has anyone in CA had work like this done and does that $4K seem reasonable? Would someone with a license charge more than that? (Translation - is there a cost benefit to taking on extra risk?)
Any advice most welcome, even advice of the "are you out of your mind" variety.
Caroline