Home Renovation scams ... what you MUST know to protect yourself

One would that thought that today where information is easily available on the web, how is it possible to cheat eighty-nine victims over less than 2 years right? One cannot imagine that just 21 of the charges alone involves some $770,000.

Even sub-contractors were not spared from the devious deception. The case is currently still pending, and the defendant shall be back in court on 3 Sep 2018. For the full scoop of this case, you can read the full report here.

Updated on 26 Sep 2018
The court had passed down on her sentence on 25th Sep 2018. The mother of seven children who had cheated both home owners and sub-contractors alike was sentenced to a jail term of seven years and nine months.

We can say that at the end of the day, our culprit does get punished for her crimes. But what about the victims who had gone through a possibly emotional and financial upheaval over the months and years? Nothing was mentioned about making financial restitution to all the victims involved. What happened to their deposits and payments?

This is a classic story of “when it’s too cheap to be true… it’s probably too cheap to be true”. The homeowner thought he discovered gold when the salesperson of this company quoted him an unbelievably cheap deal. The $1000 plus 40% advance deposit does not put him off or raise any red flags.

Again, this homeowner thought he has already done his homework by engaging an ID firm. He did not drop by to inspect the progress regularly enough. When asked to transfer the full balance payment, he did so thinking that all is in order since the ID guy updates him regularly enough. Turns out, the updates were false, and works were halted long before because the workers were not paid.

Whether its just the scheme of a single salesperson or the company at large we have no idea. One other owner who faces similar experience with another salesperson from the company lodged a police report. If you like to read the full report, you can click here. 

Though this story is not widely publicized except in forums, it’s worth sharing here. This homeowner was tricked when he found a renovator who charges some 40% cheaper than other ID firms.

He didn’t find it unusual that he was made to pay more than 50% upfront in payments.
He shared that he made a mistake by not obtaining any form of receipt for payments made to the company. And that proofs of Internet banking transfers may not be sufficient as evidence in court. Full details here. 

This company, who is a HDB licensed contractor, became suddenly not contactable. Five complains were lodged with CASE regarding uncompleted works. The company website was down. The salesperson no longer contactable. CASE mentioned that consumers should exercise prudence when selecting their renovation contractor. 

In this particular case, the seven year old company had received prior suspension from HDB. And their paid up capital is merely $100 according to ACRA records. Full report here. 

This Sengkang flat owner chose an ID firm referred by the renovation platform Renopedia. She paid the initial closed to 20% deposit. She then proceeded to pay the full amount from their four years of life savings to the company.

The company did not follow through with their obligations and now the family is living in a half-renovated home. Full story can be read here. 

Why the couple paid 90% in advance we will never understand. If only they had bothered to check, they would have sensed some alarm bells that the company concerned is not accredited under the CaseTrust scheme. And though they are renovating a private apartment, a search on HDB directory revealing that the said ID firm license had been terminated would have raise more concerns.

If an ID firm is facing challenging financial issues and on the brink of closure, resorting to debt collection companies, lodging a police report or complaining to CASE wouldn’t really help much. If only they had done their due diligence to check the background of the ID firm concerned. For the full detail of this case, you can click here.

The victim also explained that they have 5 different quotes from different renovation companies before deciding on this firm. And the main reason for their decision was because the ID could communicate better and really understand what they want.

Just like many victims of renovation scam who thought that their homework is done once they engaged an ID firm, this homeowner did the same. He ended up paying $43,774 upfront (funds taken from a bank loan) to the ID firm.

Another victim paid $33,000 in full after the company showed them two renovated houses which the company claimed was done by them. Many of the customers paid in full even before renovation works had begun. The victims continue to receive different forms of excuses why work couldn’t start or continue.

It’s interesting to note that a check with ACRA reveals that the firm is barely 1 year old and has a paid-up capital of TWO DOLLARS. The company is also not accredited by Case nor a registered HDB licensed contractor. Full story here.

These homeowners fall victims to a contractor who approached them when they were collecting keys to their HDB BTO flats. Some of them paid the bulk of the costs while others paid in full. Some of them were even kind enough to offer a loan when the contractor borrowed money from them.

It is understandable that most of these homeowners would want to have the renovation for their new home completed in time. So, when the contractor approached them citing cashflow problems and asking for advance payments for works to continue, most of them helplessly complied and cough out more payments.

Four police reports were filed. But think about it, since there is nothing criminal about failing to fulfill obligations under a contract like physically hurting someone or operating vice, it's classified as a civil case. Therefore, there is really nothing much the police could do about it.