Home Improvement Scams On The Rise As Spring Arrives In Illinois

Spring is the perfect time to start all your home improvement projects and get a fresh coat of paint on that room you've been neglecting.

This season is also an opportunity for scammers to capitalize on all of that.

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If you're sick and tired of all the sketchy door-to-door salesmen looking to help complete your spring projects, be even more cautious this time of year because a lot of them don't have good intentions.  They're looking to get into your wallet and get out without doing the work they promised.

Read More: Text Scam Hits Illinois Drivers with Fake Tollway Balance Notices

Sure, painting an entire room by yourself is a lot of work.

Landscaping around your home is tedious work.

Fixing the broken cabinets in your kitchen sounds like effort.

You know what sounds like more work? Filing a police report because someone scammed you out of hundreds, possibly thousands, of dollars for work that was never even started.  Here's the scam you need to watch out for this spring.

Home Improvement Scams On The Rise As Spring Arrives In Illinois

Read More: USPS Text Scam Deceives Illinois Residents

If you need plumbing, drywall, paint jobs, electrical work, or any kind of home improvement project done, make sure to read company reviews and ask friends who they'd recommend.  Better safe than sorry!

In the latest Scam Tracker Risk Report, home improvement scams ranked No. 5 on BBB’s list of scams posing the most significant risk to consumers. The report also indicates home improvement scams were the No. 3 riskiest scam for the 65-and-older consumer group. [dailyherald]

The top ways to know if you're about to be scammed:

• Scammers ask for upfront payment in full
• They won't agree to written contracts, so their "work" isn't traceable
• They try to schedule a time to work when you're not home
• Business information isn't "available"
• The "business" has no reviews/ratings yet
• Their website doesn't look legitimate

Illinois law also requires written contracts for projects that total $1,000 or more.

Find more recent scams circulating Illinois here.