Infographic: Confidence in Renovation Contractors

June 16, 2016  – As the renovation season hits its stride, a new survey shows that more than half of Quebecers polled don’t trust renovation contractors. According to this RenoAssistance survey conducted by Léger, 55% of respondents indicated a lack of confidence in renovation contractors; that percentage rose to nearly 2/3 for male respondent. Even if women are slightly more trusting, only 1% of them report feeling “very confident”, as opposed to 0% of men.

0% of Montrealers trust the renovation industry more than the automobile, banking or telecommunications industries

The results also showed that the reputation of the construction and renovation industry is at the bottom of the list when compared with the automobile, banking and telecommunications sectors. Only 3% of respondents claimed to have more confidence in the renovation and construction industry. This percentage drops to 0% in the Greater Montreal Region.

If you’re wealthy, beware!

This distrust of the construction and renovation industry can perhaps be explained, among other reasons, by negative personal experiences. In fact, 39% of those who completed the survey reported having had or knowing someone who had a negative renovation experience. This percentage rises to 48% among households with an average annual income of $100,000+. It is interesting to note that wealthier households are more likely to be overcharged or have their deposit stolen.

Work that is often botched and needs to be redone

Among those who reported having had or knowing someone who had a negative renovation experience, 83% say it was botched work that needed to be redone. The second most cited reason was work that took much longer than agreed upon (45%), being overcharged (25%) and projects that were abandoned by the contractor (14%).

This suspicion towards the construction industry is also nuanced by the fact that 54% of respondents indicated that they didn’t know any trustworthy contractors. This number rises in larger cities, as opposed to the regions, where more respondents claim to know a reliable contractor.

The renovation industry is not sufficiently regulated to protect the consumer

According to this survey, consumers do not feel confident when dealing with a renovation contractor; 70% of respondents think that the industry doesn’t have enough safeguards to protect consumers. These results do not surprise Eric Périgny, President and Founder of RenoAssistance: “The results confirm what we already know. Moreover, despite my training in the field and my studies in administration, I have personally lost thousands of dollars in bad renovation experiences before launching RenoAssistance.”

RenoAssistance to the rescue

It’s in order to minimize risks for consumers dealing with construction and renovation contractors. That’s why RenoAssistance was launched in 2010 and implemented the Verified Contractor process and the Contractor Confidence Index. “This is not a marketing smokescreen. We have a dedicated verification team that uses exclusive tools to minimize risks for our clients. With our experience of more than 50,000 projects handled, our success rate for avoiding the nightmare of a bad renovation project is very nearly 100%. And since our service is free and comes with no obligation to the consumer, clients have nothing to lose in asking for our advice and assistance,” adds Mr. Perigny.

Methodology

This online survey for RenoAssistance was conducted by the Léger-Recherche Stratégie Conseil firm with a pool of 485 Quebecers 25 years of age and older with an annual family income of $60,000+, between May 25-27, 2016.

About RenoAssistance

RenoAssistance is a true lifeline for consumers who don’t know where to turn when it comes time to start a renovation project. Once a project is submitted on the RenoAssistance website, a renovation expert from one of the four different departments (home extensions, interior projects, exterior projects or commercial projects) will accompany the client with his project. Up to three handpicked contractors will compete in a bidding process. The client will receive a Verified report on each contractor, which indicates their score on the Contractor Confidence Index (CCI). It’s an innovative and exclusive tool developed by RenoAssistance to minimize consumer risk.

A team of 35 employees, including 20 renovation consultants, will ensure that a maximum amount of information needed to minimize risk and reward those contractors who are honest and organized, and who satisfy their clients time after time.

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