A stucco inspection and repair company provides a guarantee and an estimate of about $8,000 to a stucco homeowner that had his house for sale. In fine print, nearly $13,000 in additional repairs are mentioned, but represented as “only necessary if the areas are found to be moisture damaged.” The moisture inspection already showed these areas to be “soft” meaning the area had, at the least, damaged substrate wood. The open-ended contract is sold to the unsuspecting stucco customer, but the actual repair bill is over $21,000. This scam has been pulled on hundreds of unsuspecting homeowners. Stucco sellers and buyers …. Beware!
MoistureFree Stucco Warranty
Stucco Warranty Protection – Not Just A Guarantee or Bond, True Warranty Protection
My Realtor saved us from something similar. We were getting the house ready to sell last month so we called some contractors out of the yellow pages. The estimates were unexpectedly high and made it seem like our house was falling apart. Shane, our Realtor, introduced us to Moisture Warranty and they helped us set up an inspection. Turns out we only needed some sealant at a few windows, the rest of the house was fine! We now have a Moisture Warranty and are ready to put the For Sale sign up. Thank you MWC!
This happened to one of my listings and we lost the contract. The sellers were surprised by the “final invoice” the week before closing. It was double the original estimate! In addition to having to pay more, the buyers balked at the repair cost increase and walked. It was a double whammy.
Contractors make much more on bigger jobs, so they often inflate the amount of work or the price…or include questionable repairs?
Who will be watching out for me? Not the contractor who is also selling me their guarantee…that’s for sure! Geezz.