Let me preface this with: I've been waiting to write this review until the lawsuit was decided. Now that it is, I feel it important to offer a review.
In mid-2018, we contracted Hoosier Home Improvements (which is the business name under which Ryan Winchester was doing home improvement business) to paint our home. It was somewhat weird from the beginning. We couldn't write a check to the business, and instead had to write it to Mr. Winchester's Dad. He wanted some portion of the down payment in cash. He brought two others (him, his girlfriend, and his dad) to do the painting...but sometimes just one person showed up. Oftentimes that one person was late. What was supposed to be a one week job stretched into two, largely because two days were no call/no shows.
The quality of the work wasn't great (see the attached pictures). It was okay, but nothing I couldn't have done myself. Still, we were paying for convenience to some degree. The lawsuit wasn't about quality.
Instead, the lawsuit was about money. Due to a miscommunication between Mr. Winchester and my spouse, we ended up overpaying him by $1625. We let him know within a couple of hours...and never heard from him again. He sent his dad to finish the work, but said in court that he didn't want any part of a monetary dispute....so he just ghosted us.
We prevailed in the lawsuit, but we're never going to see our money again. We've looked at the court records, and we're just one in a number of lawsuits ranging from small claims to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Lessons learned:
1. If you're the money manager of the house, don't let the non-money-manager write the checks.
2. If you overpay someone on a check, cancel the check immediately. Don't trust that the other person is a "good guy."
3. Always check court records when hiring a contractor, and find out if they've been sued.
4. If a business requires payment for big purchases in cash, all is not on the up-and-up.
5. Check and make sure if a contractor has business insurance. If they don't, it's a good sign that you should keep shopping. read more