As Debby reminded us recently, hurricane season can bring plenty of problems to Florida. The first kind of trouble, directly related to the storm, was most visible in the widespread flooding. For residents still dealing with the impact of that tropical storm, the aftermath is the second kind of trouble. But it’s not restricted to damage to property and home. In disaster areas, the trouble can come in the form of people who offer clean-up and repair services.
Luckily for many homeowners the wave of warnings came quickly after the arrival of Tropical Storm Debby. With word that scammers were flooding the area, equipped with broken promises to deliver, vigilant homeowners were spared the expense and humiliation of paying for repairs that never happened. Unfortunately, with any weather-related event of this size and scope, inevitably someone fell prey to one of the people looking to make a quick buck.
As a homeowner or property manager in Tampa, St. Pete, Clearwater or surrounding areas, it’s likely you’ve been through this experience before at least once. Hopefully you didn’t get burned then. If so, you learned your lesson and haven’t repeated it since then. But there a great many people who will experience property damage and act quickly to restore their homes and return their lives to normalcy without realizing the people they’ve chosen to do business with lack experience, expertise, and legitimacy in any way.
As a veteran of the roofing industry in Florida, we’ve seen these types of unethical folks pass through here countless times in the last 25 years. Some of them travel great distances to get their hands in your pockets. If you’re not hiring local, reputable, experienced contractors only, you could be one of their next victims this hurricane season or next.
