Neighborhood Ambassador Workshop Teaches Homeowners How to Avoid Contracting Scams

Neighborhood Ambassador Workshop Teaches Homeowners How to Avoid Contracting Scams

Neighborhood Ambassador Workshop Teaches Homeowners How to Avoid Contracting Scams

ROC Offers Free Program in Sierra Vista October 18

Fall and winter are the busiest seasons in Arizona for home-improvement scams by out-of-state criminal transient contractors. Keeping this in mind, the Arizona Registrar of Contractors (ROC), in partnership with the Area Agency on Aging and the South Eastern Arizona Governments Organization is offering a free Neighborhood Ambassador workshop in Sierra Vista to educate homeowners about the pitfalls of using unlicensed contractors and how to avoid home repair scams. The workshop is Tuesday, Oct. 18, 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., at the Sierra Vista Police Department, 911 N. Coronado Drive.

The Neighborhood Ambassador program builds collaborative partnerships with neighborhood leaders, homeowners’ associations and local municipalities to protect homeowners. Neighborhood Ambassadors are involved in combating and preventing unscrupulous and unlicensed construction activities, home repair scams, and financial exploitation in their neighborhoods. For more information or to sign up for the October workshop, contact the ROC at 1-888-271-9286 ext. 7115.

“People who profit from construction-related fraud and theft flock to our state to take advantage of residents, particularly seniors, who need to make home repairs and improvements. Unsuspecting homeowners often are approached by door-to-door scam artists looking to make a quick profit as they work their way through neighborhoods offering bogus ‘good deals’ on jobs such as roofing, driveway sealing, painting and various remodeling services,” said ROC Director Israel G. Torres. “The Neighborhood Ambassador Program provides training and education to neighborhood residents and groups in an effort to stop home repair scams before they start.”

In the past two years, more than 4,500 Arizonans filed complaints of violating Arizona contracting laws, and Arizona citizens were conned out of more than $50 million of their hard-earned money for these home remodeling and repair scams. Anyone who performs residential or commercial construction, remodeling or repair work must have a contractor license if the job costs $750 or more in materials, labor and other costs or if a building permit is required. Consumers should check with the ROC to make sure the person they hire is properly licensed.

Participants in the Neighborhood Ambassador program gain hands-on experience and education about unlicensed contracting activities, including enforcement methods such as neighborhood sweeps and stings. Additionally, Neighborhood Ambassadors are the first to receive email alerts of unscrupulous activities, neighborhood sweeps and stings.