The registered Boston contractors must track definite requirements regarding advertising, payments, business practices, contracts under the law. All these laws and regulations grant principles and standards right through the industry and present protections for homeowners from being taken lead by a bad contractor. If you hire some unregistered contractor and if some problem occurs with the contractor's job, then you will not be entitled to look for arbitration through the Office of Business Regulation and Consumer Affairs, nor will you be adequate to seek money through the Guaranty subsidize. You can however, submit a complaint to Office of Business Regulation against any registered or unregistered contractor for infringement of the home development contractor law.

Before hiring a contractor

There are few things which should be considered important before hiring a Dorchester contractor. One should always interview at least three contractors and ask for a detailed, written estimate.

Do not forget to check their registration and license status in order to make sure that the contractor or a subcontractor which you are going to hire is currently registered with the state or not. One should also ask the contractor to make a proof of insurance, even though it is not much required but it is sometimes helpful. One should also request to look for their Construction Supervisor License, if appropriate.

All the listed contractors should put on view their six-digit registration number on all the contracts, permits and advertisements. Wherever you see the corporation or contractor's name put on show, you should also come across a registration number to hand. The state normally issues a recognition card to all the registered contractors. Before hiring a contractor, pose to see it in order to confirm that the registration of the particular contractor is valid and has not expired yet.

Make sure that your registered contractor gets hold of the building consent.

The building departments are requisite to issue building consents upon request and endorsement. The permit card must be placed at the job site in anticipation of conclusion. If you submit an application for the permit, you may not be entitled for reward from the Guaranty Fund. According to the Home Improvement Contractor Act, it is the job of the listed HIC to acquire all the basic and crucial permits.

If something goes wrong

If you have some kind of contract dispute or if you believe that the job was done in an unprofessional way, then look at the following options:

1. Try to resolve it by yourself.

2. If you are unable to handle it by you own then go for mediation. One can easily apply for mediation through their local consumer faction, which is joined with the Attorney General's Office.

3. After this all the registered contractors must, by law, have the same opinion to arbitrate.