Small tight sites require skilled landscape contractors to ensure all the details are covered without conflicts. Photos courtesy Maureen Gilmer/TNS
With Contractors, Inquire Before You Hire By Maureen Gilmer
Los Angeles is full of unlicensed contractors and their crews who come to know your family and home site intimately.
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When everyone starts relandscaping for drought, the crooks come out to play. Such widespread demand makes the good contractors impossible to get, so the field becomes populated with a lot of fly-by-night “landscapers.” What you don’t know about this situation if you’ve never hired a landscaper before could come back to haunt you. So here are some tips important for everyone who hires someone to work or build or plant for them. In California, for example, a landscape contractor’s license is required for all installations. The law is designed to protect consumers from unscrupulous landscapers. The license requires a contractor to know the law concerning business practices, liability and other important details. It also requires the contractor carry insurance and a bond. This separates landscape contractors from all other “landscapers” or gardening services. Here’s why it’s important. When they bring heavy equipment, unskilled workers and vehicles onto your property, there is a risk of damage or accidents. For example, a crane used to set a big boxed shade tree could fail and drop it on your house. If there’s damage, the contractor’s insurance policy and bond help resolve the problem. When things go bad with unlicensed landscapers, they often just disappear with your money, leaving the yard in disarray. Some leave the country entirely so they can never be found. And there is no bond fund to repair or replace the items and damage they cause. For this reason alone, hiring unlicensed landscapers
SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS REAL ESTATE
SUNDAY, JULY 11, 2021
