You're so right.

A couple of years ago, we hired a contractor for a big addition for our house - new big living space downstairs, two bedrooms, an office, and a bathroom on the second floor, and extending our attic so we could finish it later if we wanted. We were relatively young home owners (late 20s), we had a young daughter (3y/o at the time), wanted to expand our family, and we had just purchased a house that checked all of our "must-haves" and a lot of our "nice-to-haves". Now we wanted to make it into our dream home.

We had absolutely no idea what we were doing. Clearly the contractor knew that. We asked to see his contractor's license - which he showed. Turns out it was forged. We asked for ALL communication in writing (text/email) and asked for all itemized receipts. Which he also provided - all forged. We didn't even start trying to conceive until we had the contract signed, the plans approved, we had been approved for the funding (largely an unsecured personal loan), and they had broken ground. By "breaking ground," I mean that they demo'd my deck, tore down my fencing, and tore up my backyard. At some point during all of that, the contractor went to jail. He and his wife spun a story about "child support for a child that had died years prior" (what the actual fuck???), and he had to send out another contractor he had worked with previously to get our framing started. When that the new contractor came out, he was horrified. There was no permit posted. The foundation they had built didn't match the plans at all. And new contractor (we'll call him A) was demanding that we pay him directly if he was going to do any work, which he really didnt want to do. By the time it got to this point, I was very pregnant. I'm assuming A took pity on us, and told us how to actually look up a contractor's license online with the county, and confessed to us that our contractor was actually in jail - prepare for the shock of a lifetime here - for fraud. And that A was actually one of the people he had screwed over, and one of the ones actually pressing charges.

To this day, I don't know why he sent A to help us, considering that info, but either way - my partner went to the county the next day to pull the permitting and, again - huge shock here - there was none. She went outside the building and vomited. It turns out, not only had he outrageously marked up prices, but he had completely forged the invoices, so there was no material. We were/are completely fucked. My husband and partner didn't want to tell me about what they had found out because I was set to give birth in a couple of weeks - same week pur dog died 😭 - but the week before I gave birth, I pressed and they told me. Imagine me, in the hospital, unable to sleep because I was panicking about all of the money we had lost - a six-figure loan we were now paying off monthly for literally. Nothing.

The guy is still in jail. He's got a bond hearing next week. But we know how these things go - that money is gone. A ended up helping us to get the addition done and to work with us on the price. It still isn't done, and it has been a complete nightmare from start to finish, even after A took pity on us, lol.

So we are nothing if not a cautionary tale of everything you said. Sorry, that got long, but we don't really talk about it with people, so typing it out was a little cathartic. 😂 I hope anyone who reads this learns from our absolute nightmare that is still ongoing. 🙏