After your home has been damaged or destroyed by a natural disaster, the first thing you want to do is find a good restoration contractor to rebuild your house. But in this case, the old adage

“Haste makes Waste” is especially true. In the wake of natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods, though many contractors are honest, there are far too many dishonest, unlicensed contractors just out to make a buck on your misfortune.

The first rule you need to follow is to never hire a guy who shows up on your doorstep looking to rebuild for you. This is a key tactic of dishonest contractors. In

Florida after a hurricane, you can hear dozens of stories from ordinary people about how they hired a contractor and gave him money to buy supplies, only to have him vanish into the night; or who did the repairs, but with such shoddy work that the roof collapsed with the next rainstorm.

Always ask for a license, always find out what their business tax number is (this is like a social security number and can be used to track them down later), and do your best to get references. If you have any doubts, do not hire! Look for someone else.

Let your fingers do the walking, if possible. Local contractors are going to be infinitely more reliable than those who fly in just to take advantage of the money in rebuilding your community.

Go an hour or two outside of your area if you must, but find a restoration contractor who has a permanent physical address and who has been there for a couple of years. And ideally, try to get bids from more than one company on repairs. That doesn’t mean take the lowest bidder; instead, listen carefully to what the contractors are saying, and hire the one who makes the most sense.

Always get a legal, notarized contract. And keep receipts and records of everything. Ask your restoration contractor for copies of receipts for supplies, and if you have doubts about any of the purchases, go to the supplier it came from and ask. You can also call your insurance company and, in federal disaster situations, the American Red Cross to make sure that your chosen restoration contractor does not have a record of fraud.

Protect yourself from that second round of disaster; make certain that your restoration contractor can be trusted.