It may be important to seek out those "contractors" that are no longer in business since '05

One simple way is to search Sunbiz.com 

There are lists of thousands of contractors of all occupations, GC's, Certified GC's, Roofers, etc.

Perhaps a study group could determine which are legit and which are not. Unfortunately , John, this public forum could get a lot of people in deep water, were they to name firms. 

The MSFH just issued a warning as to some of the repair contractors who defaulted on their agreements under the FL My Safe Home program, thats a start. 


Perhaps the discussion group could issue applications to these 1000's of contractors and verify their credentials?

Many small contractors as well as larger home builders have gone belly up here due to the market down turn. Roofing and pool cages were the two biggest issues. I put a Timberline roof on my house just before Charlie and it was $175 a square R&R. The subsequent price increases were unconscionable. Ditto for tile. I am sure the Latino workers were all documented and very well paid for their labor.   Ice etc. was addressed regarding price gouging but roofing and pool cages went up due to 'market forces'. I am sure if the homeowner was paying for this work there would have been more than a few complaints. (They are paying for it now in the form of extremely high premiums.) Since it was 'insurance dollars' it was perfectly fine.  

I did handle a FIGA claim and the insured was a pool cage contractor. An honest one too. He did not raise his prices and only did the cages of his existing customers. He had a friend, a professor at Florida Gulf Coast University, that called him to have his pool cage looked at for bid purposes. The contractor went over and saw that the punctures in the screen were apparently from the inside and asked the good professor about it. The prof replied that he had been paying premium bla bla bla and the contractor left.