Kitchen re-model ... part 3

This post is about a big lesson learned

As I have posted, Johnny and I were working with a kitchen
designer at the Home Depot. This has been a very good experience and we
have made all of our final choices for the kitchen.

But we still had to finalize plans with the contractor on taking the wall
out, electrical, wood floor and plumbing. A friend recommended a contractor
to us that her son worked for. So we met with him and really liked the guy.
And then we got the estimates from him and really, really liked the guy!

He came over this past Sunday and we finalized just about everything and he
said he could probably start the demo work on Thursday.

On Sunday night Johnny mentioned that it might be a good idea to
check the guy out with the BBB. uhhh, yeah, guess so!
ha.......we liked the guy so much we didn't even think about that

So on Monday, I checked with the BBB and he wasn't registered...
not a good sign

Next I checked with the Board of Contractors, he wasn't listed...
not a good sign

Then I checked with the State of Virginia for his contractors license...
it had been revoked in 2008!!!
def not a good sign

You know that ole saying that if it sounds too good to be true
then it probably is! Well, this was def a case of that

So I emailed the guy and told him we weren't quite ready to start
that I needed references and needed to verify that he was
a licensed contractor and insured in the state of Virginia

So later that day he emailed me with a list of references and
said he would email his license and insurance info later

and today I recev'd an email from him asking me if I had received
an email from his insurance agent with his info

I haven't answered yet....I didn't want to have to call him out
I was hoping he would just come clean but he hasn't
we'll see......

in the mean time, we have another contractor
he has an A+ rating with the BBB
is licensed and insured in the state of VA
has never had a complaint filed against him
and re-modeled our son's girlfriends parents kitchen
So I feel we are safe with him.

Hoping now to start this week coming up!

my tip ... don't make the "almost" mistake that we were about to make
check out your contractors from the get go......before you even
meet with them.
and if I email or hear back from the other guy, I'll let ya'll know the outcome!

later......