Renovation Trust
Homeowner and Contractor Protection
He Who Has the Money... 
...Has the Power and Control
As soon as you give a contractor a deposit, you no longer have money and have thereby lose control. So don't. Never give a contractor a deposit!
Using Renovation Trust for your project keeps the homeowner-contractor balance of power equal.
With Renovation Trust, we hold the money until the work is done by your contractor and approved by you. The contractor only gets paid when the work is done. This way, your money is always protected and the relationship remains equal from start to finish.
To help keep the relationship equal, we recommend the use of both tentative dates and drop-dead dates in your agreement with a contractor.
Don't Believe Us? Read It In The News
A homeowner hired a contractor to build a second story on their home for approximately $350,000. The job was supposed to be a 3-month project. The contractor asked for a $70,000 deposit. Once the homeowner gave the deposit, the job was supposed to start immediately. However, the contractor did not start their project until 7 months later. With $70,000, the contractor was able to put off the homeowner's project because they already had the money and therefore the power and control.
After several months of hearing the contractor's excuses, the homeowners had to beg to get their project going. When the contractor finally did start the project, he did a demolition worth roughly $10,000 yet demanded another $70,000 from the homeowners. The homeowners had no choice. They believed their first $70,000 would be lost, so they paid hoping now that since the work had been started, the contractor would be able to finish quickly.
The contractor never came back. Instead, the contractor made his company insolvent and re-opened under a new incorporated company name, making it impossible for the homeowners to ever get their money back.
Currently, this situation is being handled as a civil case rather than a criminal case because the contractor is claiming there was a breach of contract by the homeowners. The homeowners have no recourse and the fact of the matter is that these situations occur every single day.
Giving a contractor a deposit means giving a contractor money for work not done or performed. By doing this, you have lost all control. In over 12% of cases, contractors will take your deposit and never show up.
Hoping your contractor shows up is not a risk-free strategy but using Renovation Trust is. Never give a contractor a deposit and always keep your money protected with Renovation Trust.
To read other renovation stories in the news, see our Renovation Rip-Offs page.