ArcaMax

This column is all about misplaced hope. You can lose thousands of dollars, or even tens of thousands of dollars, if you make this mistake.

I do at least five short telephone consultations with homeowners each week. The common denominator in almost all of the calls is that the homeowner trusted that the contractor was going to do the job the right way.

I get it, believe me, I do. I trust the mechanic is going to fix my truck when I take it in for service.

I was on a very serious call two weeks ago. The homeowner lives in the upper Midwest. He had a new roof installed two years ago. This man went up to his attic about a month ago for the first time since the roof was installed.

He discovered that the roofers disconnected his furnace exhaust pipe, which used to exit the roof. The roofers then patched the hole and installed shingles over it. The furnace exhausted into this man’s attic for two years.

The entire underside of the roof sheathing was pitch black with mold and mildew. It covered the roof rafters. Months of toxic condensation dripped down the rafters and saturated the fiberglass insulation. It was a miracle that the homeowner and his family didn’t die from carbon monoxide poisoning.

The owner of the roofing company had no idea that this had happened. His crews didn’t tell him. He and his insurance company are in the process of repairing all the damage. This homeowner dodged the bullet.

How could this have been avoided? If the entire roof is visible from the ground, the homeowner could have taken his own before-and-after photographs. If the roof was not visible, the homeowner could have asked the roofer to take before-and-after photos. A video-equipped drone could have been used by the homeowner to record before-and-after videos.

The homeowner could have also poked his head up into the attic before he paid the roofer. He might have spotted debris on the insulation, the disconnected vent pipes, and other issues. He didn’t because he trusted the job was done right.

I had another consultation with a woman who lives in upstate New York. She had a new concrete patio and two sets of concrete steps installed just six months ago. The concrete is spalling and deteriorating. This woman is heartbroken. The contractor said he can try to repair it, but with no guarantee.

I have no fewer than 20 past columns on my website about how to install concrete the proper way so that it doesn’t deteriorate for over 100 years. This woman could have read all those columns before she signed a contract with the contractor. She would have known exactly how the concrete should have been mixed, placed, finished and cured to ensure it would not crumble or spall.

Instead, she trusted the work would be done correctly. She hoped everything would work out well and that the contractor had her best interests at heart. You must vet contractors before you sign contracts to ensure they know what to do. Many contractors today don’t have the same mindset as the contractors of old.

You have to realize the height of the bar to be a concrete contractor is so low that a mouse could jump over it with ease. There’s no proficiency testing required. You can go out yourself and have business cards printed up saying you’re a concrete mason even though you’ve never placed and finished one square foot of concrete.

I hate to admit it, but it’s become very easy in the past two years to do the research about how things should be done. This is one instance where artificial intelligence (AI) shines. I’m not a fan of AI, but it does do this job well for the time being.

This woman could have gone to grok.com and typed: “I live in upstate New York. I want a contractor to install a new concrete patio and steps. I don’t want them to spall or deteriorate. I want them to resist damage from deicing salt. How should the concrete be mixed, placed, finished, and cured so cold weather is not an issue?”

The AI engine, in seconds, would have given the woman the exact strength the concrete should be, how to place it without adding extra water, and how to finish and cure it.

She could have also received personal one-on-one advice by chatting with me on the phone. I beg you to stop placing hope in contractors. Research how a job should be done, how the materials should be installed, etc., before you even call a contractor to get bids.

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©2026 Tim Carter. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.