While married couples continue to make up nearly 60 percent of home buyers, over the last decade the number of single women buying homes has increased by 50 percent, accounting for 22 percent of all home sales. Single women households include those women who never married, as well as those who are divorced, single moms, or widows.
However, according to ConstructionConfidant.com, the entire spectrum of single female homeowners is “routinely targeted by home improvement scammers rely on the fact that most women will be unfamiliar with common construction practices, and look to exploit that fact. That’s not to say that women haven’t succeeded in the construction industry, or are gullible, it just means that according to the numbers, the home improvement industry continues to be a male-dominated field.”
The founder of ConstructionConfident.com, Tina Chamberland, says people tend to fall for scams during times of crisis. “Every year, bad weather damages or destroys thousands of homes. Some communities are nearly wiped out all together. People are in such a rush to repair their homes that they fall for quick finish dates and low prices without doing their due diligence.”
Chamberland reports that of all consumer complaints made in 2010, issues with home improvement contractors ranked #3 and #6; the industry is consistently in the top three of all complaints annually. “It’s not always an obvious scam, it’s not always enough to read your contract with a home improvement contractor, you have to understand it.”
For more tips on home improvement projects and how not to fall victim to a scam, visit ConstructionConfidant.Com.