WIN: Contractor Fraud Bill Passed!

After Superstorm Sandy hit in 2012, we tried our best to rebuild and get home. Already faced with the loss of just about everything, so many of us put what money we had into rebuilding, trusting that the people we hired to recreate our family homes would do as they promised. We didn’t know it at the time, but elevation and rebuilding contractors did not need a license to work on our homes. 

When hundreds of families were defrauded for over $5 million by shady contractors who didn’t do the work they were paid for, and disaster survivors were left having to foot the bill – again – we realized that part of the fight would have to be putting an end to contractor fraud.

Sandy survivors Carol and Jim Ferraioli were one of many families who experienced this firsthand. They paid $64,000 to a contractor who took the money and ran, leaving them stuck with an unfinished, unlivable house until they were finally able to finish their repairs and move back in eight years later (it was later discovered that he’d done the same to more than 40 other Sandy families). 

And they weren’t the only ones. When Hurricane Ida survivors started rebuilding, they ran into the same problems. We didn’t want the same thing to happen to any other storm survivors – past, present, or future. 

Now, after years of pushing our state to cut down on contractor fraud, we won! Thanks to the hard work of folks like Carol and Jim, elevation and rebuilding contractors in New Jersey are now required by law to be licensed by the state before they can work on storm-damaged homes.

Under this new law, for a contractor to be licensed, they must have completed an apprenticeship program, or possess a minimum of two years experience under the supervision of a licensed home improvement or elevation contractor. They also have to prove their financial stability and disclose any prior convictions they have – including fraud, negligence, or misconduct. 

This changes things big-time for all storm survivors going forwards. Nobody should have to worry about whether or not their home will actually get repaired after they’ve already paid a contractor thousands of dollars to get the job done. Here’s what Carol had to say: 

“We are both very happy and excited for this new bill passing to help New Jersey residents get more protection against fraudulent contractors. We hear over and over about people giving money to contractors and they either don’t ever show up again and/or if they do, they do a real poor job. 

Our contractor we hired to rebuild our home from Hurricane Sandy scammed New Jerseyans for $1.8 million dollars, and if that wasn’t bad enough, it delayed us from getting home for over 8 years due to our contractor taking off. We heard stories in the courtroom about how it affected people’s health and some passed away before they even got home. 

So having this new bill passed is such a great thing because it means a lot more protection for anyone hiring a contractor, and it will help avoid anyone having to go through what we did. This is why I love the New Jersey Organizing Project, because after the terrible experiences we experienced with Sandy (and that many others currently still experiencing), we work to get more protection for victims so that these things don’t keep happening. “Fixing what is broken” with our system here in NJ.”