Contractors State License Board

Interviews with 30 customers of Jeffrey Weiner's companies, Systems Construction and Gotech Builders, unveiled a consistent set of complaints against the Orange County custom home builder. Weiner denies wrongdoing. He says he is being victimized by customers who are trying to take advantage of him and that he is always willing to resolve customers' problems.

Ernesto Honores' emotions swing from rage to despair as he considers the place he once longed to call home. The Chilean immigrant and his wife, Ruby, bought an ocean-view San Juan Capistrano lot in 1988 and hired an Orange County custom home builder to design and construct their dream house.

Last year, $237 million was spent in Orange County on residential additions and alterations, according to the Construction Industry Research Board, a nonprofit research center in Burbank serving the state of California. The cost of a home-remodeling job that requires a contractor can range from a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars.

"Get Written Contract for Addition" (July 22) by Benny L. Kass concerning remodeling contracts is a good generic article. However, I fear that it might give California homeowners false information. California has an extensive statutory scheme concerning home improvement. Many of the items that Kass suggests be included in the contract, are in fact regulated. As an example, a payment schedule must be included in the contract although no amount of retention is required by law. However, unless the contractor provides certain financial guarantees, the contractor may not receive any more in compensation than the percentage of the work that he has completed.

Ten more felony counts were filed last week against Joe Zurita, a Reseda contractor who was arrested after an angry customer tied him up and called police. Zurita, 33, who previously was charged with eight felony counts by the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, pleaded guilty May 13 to one count each of grand theft and illegally using another contractor's license number. Each count carries a maximum three-year prison sentence.

Regarding the article (March 1) on home inspectors, I submit the following: At present there is no licensing requirements for home inspectors in California. The Contractors' State License Board has no jurisdiction over home inspectors. The board only has jurisdiction over the trades that are licensed. Anyone contemplating having a home inspection should be skeptical when an inspection company directly or indirectly gives the impression that it is licensed as home inspectors.

In the wake of nearly 30,000 consumer complaints last year against contractors--about one-fourth against the non-licensed variety--the Contractors State License Board is launching a poster campaign to warn consumers of the dangers of dealing with non-licensed contractors.