PHOENIX, AZ — Maybe it's a half done remodel or a contractor running off with your cash.
If a licensed residential contractor did it, you could get up to $30,000 from the Recovery Fund.
The fund is paid for by an assessment on every licensed contractor with each license renewal.
$1.5 million paid out to consumers in 2018 according to the Arizona Registrar of Contractors (AZROC).
But eligibility is determined by several factors. The contractor must hold a valid residential contracting license. The consumer must file a complaint with the AZROC, and allow the contractor to fix the problem.
If the problem is not fixed, the case has to the go through the AZROC legal process, which ends in a hearing with an administrative law judge who decides if the contractor violated the law.
Once there is a judgment, "then they (the consumer) can go ahead a file a claim at that point and someone from our staff will determine if they're eligible," says Nicole Sornsin, AZROC Legal and Recovery Fund Assistant Director.
If eligible, the agency determines how much to pay out based on three bids from licensed contractors provided by the consumer.
"The homeowner, respondent (contractor) or both are entitled to contest that decision," Sornsin says.
The dispute then goes back before an administrative law judge for a final decision.
"If there is a payout from the recovery fund that goes as a hit on the contractor's license," Sornsin says."Their license will remain suspended until they pay that amount back to the Registrar."
