THE HOMEOWNER'S CONTRACTOR PLAYBOOK

Almost no contractor horror story starts with a con artist.

It starts with a handshake. A number agreed over text. A piece of paper that never got written. By the time the cabinets are wrong and the invoice has grown by thousands, the homeowner has already given away every piece of leverage they had - usually in the first five minutes, usually without noticing.

This book is about not letting that happen.

Not theory, and not legal boilerplate. The exact questions to ask before you hire, the exact clauses your contract needs, and the exact words to use when a project starts going sideways.

Inside you'll find:

• Twenty-two interview questions - with what a solid answer sounds like and what an evasive one sounds like, in the contractor's own likely words


• A clause-by-clause contract walkthrough a non-lawyer can use immediately, and what each missing clause actually costs you


• How to verify a license, bond and insurance properly - including the phone call that catches a certificate that lapsed last month


• The double-payment trap - how homeowners pay in full and still get a lien filed against their house, and the one document that prevents it


• A field guide to the scams that recur - storm chasers, the leftover-materials pitch, the permit bait-and-switch, multi-client deposit fraud


• What to do when it's already going wrong - including a notice-and-cure letter you can copy word for word


• Four appendices - a one-page vetting checklist, a red-flag phrase glossary, sample contract clauses, and ready-to-send letter templates

Whether you're facing a $600 repair or a $200,000 addition, the paperwork is the part that protects you. This book makes it the easy part.

Most contractors are competent and honest. The point of the paperwork isn't to catch a villain - it's to remove the ambiguity that turns two reasonable people into opponents.