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[quote=Anonymous]I hate reading these stories.  My family has been in the HVAC business for 40+ years and have been on the wrong side of these situations as well when a remodeler or custom builder has gone under.  Worst one was a longtime customer that was building their dream home in MoCo.  They paid $500k for a hole in the ground.  My recommendations for starting any thing more than minor remodeling project or construction:

-Check court records to make sure the company is paying their bills.  
-Check the trade licenses the company is running under.  If there's been a recent switch or the license holder was employed by another company that went under be wary.  Linkedin and sites that data mine permits like Porch and helpful here.

-Construction bonding is readily available and cheap (~2.5% of job cost is the going rate).  Its common in any kind of commercial construction; I've never understood why it isn't in residential work.

-In Maryland the MHIC programing is woefully outdated with the costs of modern construction and the number of jobs contractors will take on at one time.  There is an interesting case with a pool company that went under last fall (Catalina).  They billed and collected deposits from people that they knowingly could not perform.  Unfortunately this wasn't the first time the ownership did this and it has the State's attorney considering piecing the corporate veil and going after ownership with fraud charges.    If successful it would be a game changer to help prevent people from doing this over and over again.               [/quote]

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