Spent $800 on a basement reno with a contractor who ghosted after 3 days

Hired a guy off Kijiji to frame my basement and he took my deposit then vanished after half a day of work, so now I'm debating if I should just DIY the rest or lawyer up over that signed contract, anyone else have a nightmare story with an unlicensed home builder in Edmonton?

2 comments

2 Comments

robinj291mo ago

I used to think people were just being dramatic about avoiding unlicensed contractors, but honestly this changed my mind completely. My buddy lost $1200 to some guy in St. Albert who did the same thing, roughed in electrical and then just bounced, no calls no nothing. At this point I'd say small claims court is worth the filing fee if you have that signed contract, even if the guy's got no money it creates a paper trail and might scare him into paying up.

karen_west591mo ago

Oh man, is that really what happened to your buddy? I used to be one of those people rolling my eyes at the warnings about unlicensed guys, thought everyone was just being overly cautious. But then my cousin hired some handyman to fix his deck and the dude ripped off the old boards, took a deposit, and we never saw him again. Left a mess and no way to get the money back. Now I'm totally with you on the small claims thing, even if the guy's broke it puts him on notice and might make him think twice before scamming someone else.