Finding the right home improvement company to update or renovate your home doesn’t have to be a stressful and disheartening process. Yet most homeowners have no idea where to start because they are bombarded with bad press about contractors who are dishonest, inexperienced and downright unreliable. Homeowners today are wary of who they can trust.

Home Improvement Complaints and Scams:

“With lower-rate mortgages tempting homeowners to trade up to a bigger house, or to refinance and expand or repair their existing home, we’re finding that construction and home improvement activity is way up, and with it is the number of complaints in those areas,” said Consumer Protection Commissioner Edwin R. Rodriguez. (Consumer Affairs, January 2006)

“Home improvement complaints rank as the top consumer complaint in Connecticut and elsewhere across the country,” Rodriguez said. “While home improvements themselves can be expensive, any problems that arise often cost consumers thousands more to fix. Unfortunately, there have been many cases where a homeowner is left with a huge problem and has no financial means of getting it repaired.” (Consumer Affairs, June 2006)

Basic scams usually do not occur with accredited companies, so make sure the company you use is licensed. “The law requires home improvement contractors to register and follow certain procedures for a reason, to protect homeowners,” Rodriguez said. “This includes complying with state laws that assure consumers a level of financial protection.” (Consumer Affairs, June 2006)

Be Wary of Certain Sales Tactic:

According to the National Consumer Law Center at consumerlaw.org, unscrupulous contractors mostly target senior citizens. Do not fall into the trap of the following sales tactics that take advantage of homeowners:

• “Bait and Switch” – offers low prices for installed items like windows and home siding, and then tells the homeowner the item is out of stock and can only be replaced with a high-priced substitute.

• Misrepresent the urgency of a needed repair.

• Claim the item is more expensive than advertised because it has to be “custom made” to fit the home.

• Misrepresent that the consumer is receiving a discount because the home is selected to model the repair when, in reality, the consumer is paying market price or more.

• Misrepresent the energy savings, health benefits and value added to the home.

• Misrepresent the terms on which financing is likely to be arranged.

Practices to Follow for Finding the Right Contractor:

If you hire a contractor with a license and a good reputation (such as the Home Remodelers Group®), you are guaranteed to avoid unfinished work, financial wrongdoing and fraud.

The National Consumer Law Center has a list of suggestions for homeowners looking for a home improvement company:

• Do not hire an unknown contractor that solicits business by knocking on your door. Deal with companies recommended by friends or reputable building supply stores.

• Before agreeing to hire any home improvement contractor, get a second estimate for the same work from another contractor.

• Get references for the contractor and speak to those references. Ask about satisfaction and any problems that arose.

• Look at other work performed by the same contractor.

• Many states require contractors to be licensed and/or bonded. Check with the state licensing body to see if the contractor you are considering is licensed.

• Get a written contract describing explicit specifications of the work, the price (including details of any financing or credit terms), the responsibility for cleaning up, and the hourly rate for any added work. Ask for guarantees and other promises to be made in writing.

• If the written documents are different from oral promises, do not sign them.

• A 3-day right-to-cancel applies to door-to-door sales and home improvement loans even after the papers have been signed.

• Do not allow a contractor to begin work until financial arrangements to pay for the work are complete.

• Do not agree to pay the final payment until the project is finished.

• Do not consolidate other debts with a home improvement loan.

• If problems with a contractor or home improvement lender arise, get help from a lawyer or housing counselor immediately.

Take Care of Your Home:

The Home Remodelers Group® has been in business since 1964 and there is a simple reason for our longevity. We take great pride in helping our customers beautify their homes, we enjoy our work and we want our customers to be happy with their homes. The Home Remodelers Goup® is licensed and insured so you can feel secure when working with us. Before you sign any contract, we provide a written estimate and detailed information on the scope of the project. You’ll know exactly what you are getting before we do anything. We do this to provide our customers with peace of mind. We have survived in this business because we focus on customer satisfaction, attention to customer service and offer quality products at a fair price.

Think of your home like a child that needs a doctor. You would take your child to a licensed and professional doctor, not someone that comes to your door. So make sure your home receives the care it deserves by hiring experienced and well-accredited home improvement professionals.

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Academy Sports & Outdoors, The Sports Authority, Inc. and **** Sporting Goods are amongst the leading Sports Equipment Stores in the USA

The 10 leading sports equipment stores in the USA are discussed here.

Academy Sports & Outdoors

This specialty company is known to be among America’s largest and most popular sporting goods sellers. With more than a hundred chains operated all over the southeastern region of the country, Academy Sports + Outdoors shops furnish the sports aficionados with a heavy collection of gears, clothing, as well as accessories at comparatively inexpensive rates.

The Sports Authority, Inc.

This popular chain offers everything from class sports footwear, apparels and sports accessories, at competitive rates. The company also provides an all-encompassing gamut of sports paraphernalia from aquatic sports equipment, hiking and camping gears, football supplies, cycling stuff to ball games kit. In 1987, Sports Authority, Inc. opened its first shop in Florida. Now, the company runs more than 400 stores scattered in the country.

Dick’s Sporting Goods

Is one of the most advanced sporting goods chain in the United States that presents a sizeable choice of quality sports equipment, sports clothing, and sports accessories. The company sprang from the simple aspiration of a young man **** Stack to sell fishing gears in the late 1940s. Today, **** Sporting Goods has more than three hundred shops spread throughout thirty states across the United States.

Sport Chalet

Sport Chalet started out fifty years ago as a shop selling only scuba and ski equipment. At present, it has rocketed to be one of USA’s top sports vendor that provides high-end sporting merchandise such as fitness, bowling, fishing, basketball, airsoft, golf, snowboarding equipments, and a lot more. Sport Chalet also provides copious services such as sports expert advice, repairs and rentals. Stores are located throughout Arizona, Nevada, and Southern California.

Modell’s Sporting Goods

The company is one of the leading provider of an extensive line of sporting equipments such as paintball, soccer, skateboarding, running equipments plus so many more. It also supplies athletic footwear, and costumes. Brand names for football jerseys like The Champion and Schutt DNA football helmets are sold in Modell’s stores. Modell’s Sporting Goods is the oldest family owned specialty business of sporting merchandise in the United States. The company runs almost a hundred shops all over Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia.

Hibbett Sporting Goods, Inc.

It is established in 1945 and is currently based in Birmingham, Alabama. The company equips sports fanatics with its wide multiplicity of reasonably priced apparel and equipment for sports such as basketball, boxing, football, and weight lifting. It also offers famous brand names of sporting goods like Dickies, Nautilus, NBA, Nike, Oakley, and Ecko. Near to 500 Hibbert Sporting Goods, Inc. stores are located in more than twenty American states.

Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI)

REI is one of the United Sates’ biggest buyer cooperatives that serves as a source of a broad line of camp and outdoor sports gears and clothing. REI has 77 retail stores and a comprehensive web site, as well. Dog gears, tents, car racks, backpacks, sleeping bags and watches are some of the products that REI sells in its different stores nationwide.

Football America

Maryland-based Football America has been providing the United States with the handpicked football equipment and supplies for almost three decades now. It offers a full selection of hard-wearing, high performance football costumes, helmets, cleats, shoulder pads, plus more.

ATS Sports

ATS Sports is USA’s and the globe’s biggest resource of tennis related tackles such as stringing machines, grips, court equipment racquet strings, umpire chairs, benches, as well as tennis accessories. The company is headquartered at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Sports & Recreation, Inc.

Is the tenth biggest sporting goods franchise in the US and is based in Tampa, Florida. It is a supplier of well-liked trade name sports equipment as well as footwear. As Sports & Recreation, Inc expanded its stores and locations, it also came up with a number of different names for its stores. The stores were adorned with banners that were aimed to build up the hometown persona of the company. Local area names where a Sports & Recreation, Inc shop is situated were taken on as the name of the store, itself. Thus, the stores run under names like Tampa Sports and Jacksonville Sports Unlimited.

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