Finding Contractors in Tenaja and the Temecula Valley

By Kristyne McDaniel

Steve and I have gone through an adventure building a house, just as everyone that strikes out to build their own custom home on their own land does. One of the biggest difficulties we have faced in our efforts is finding and evaluating general contractors, subcontractors, and hourly workers that could do the jobs we needed done.

First, we had to find someone willing to take on a challenging project in the first place. Then, once it went from simply being a challenging project to also being a challenging budget crisis we were faced with having to replace our original general contractor with a new general contractor.

This web site starts out with a listing of all the people we have spoken with and contracted with that we have contact information for, so that you can also speak with them if you like. Please feel free to contact us about anyone on our list because not all of our experiences were good ones, and we don't want to post the negative information with only one reference to back it up. Instead, we are starting a database so that others can contribute ratings as well. Once there is a preponderance of the evidence that a contractor is not living up to expectations, ratings on those contractors will be posted. We don't want our own good or bad experiences to be the only information you have, so please be sure to do some checking on your own and ask lots of questions.

Finally, we are posting information so you can understand your rights with respect to contractors. This information includes:

• what amounts contractors can charge and when
• how to file a complaint with the contractor's licensing board
• what a lien is and how to fight it
• how to bond around a lien
• where to find legal help if needed
• how to file in small claims court

Like many people will find, most of our subcontractors have been honest, hardworking, and have done excellent work. We have been taken for a ride by one of them who walked off the job with our deposit without performing any work. Another stopped working to protest an incorrect invoice that we refused to pay until he corrected it, causing us to need to fire him. Still another would not correct mistakes that happened early in our project and we were forced to fire him as well. Most of our subcontractors did indeed correct errors and treated us fairly. These are the contractors we hope to encourage to stay in business and flourish with this site.

We hope you will feel the same way, and will contribute to this site with your own experiences.