As communities around Western North Carolina shovel the muck out of homes and businesses, residents are staring down the barrel of a massive rebuilding effort. BPR’s Gerard Albert III spoke with Megan Carroll, an executive officer with the Builders Association of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Their conversation, edited for clarity and brevity, is below.
Albert: A lot of communities are now shifting from rescue mode to recovery mode. As people rebuild, what should they look out for if someone approaches them about repair work?
Carroll: “The first thing that I would recommend for anyone in that situation would be take a lot of pictures. Contact your insurance, have a conversation with them. And then from there, I might suggest considering how the person's approaching you…
“I would be leery to see out-of-state plates, the phone numbers on the side of the vehicles being out of state. I would be leery of people approaching you with things that seem too good to be true.
“If this person seems like no one you've ever seen and no one you've ever known and they're asking for that upfront payment before they're doing the work too, I would be very leery to hand over anything.”
Albert: Are there ways that people can reach out to the association to verify a person or even get recommendations for contractors in their area?
Carroll: “In this state to be a licensed GC (general contractor), you have to take a test, have certain requirements, have certain amounts of knowledge, get continuing education credits. Those things keep them in the know. They keep them on top of code changes and things of that nature.
“Licensed GCs have a number and they should be displaying that.
“We've got a list of those people online.”
Albert: What are some things that people should feel confident in when a contractor approaches them or when they approach a contractor?
Carroll: “The fact that you can find them online, that they potentially have a website that you can see, that you can see a license number, you can see some reviews from their customers.
“They're going to give you a quote. They're going to talk you through that process. They're going to talk you through a timeline.”
Albert: What can people who are working to clear out their homes and businesses do to stay safe?
Carroll: “Washing your hands is a really hard commodity to come by. So please consider covering yourself using gloves, using proper things to breathe through. But remembering that there is a reason that this is a profession.
“Folks are trained to come in and kind of remediate some of these issues. So, again, talking to your insurance and figuring out kind of a path forward and then figuring out the next professional you need to hire. They will be able to recommend, help you clear, clean, get things out talk you through that process.”
BPR’s Gerard Albert III spoke with Megan Carroll. She’s an executive officer with the Builders Association of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
