Warm weather lends well to spring cleaning and repairs, but watch out for home repair fraud. If your plans include hiring an outside source to make repairs, keep in mind the following tips: 

• Be suspicious if someone offers to do an expensive job for an unusually low price. Once you sign the contract and pay the fee, you learn why: they never deliver the service!
• Always get several estimates for every repair job, and compare the prices and terms. Check to see if there is a charge for estimates before asking for one.
• Ask your friends, neighbors, and co-workers for recommendations, or ask the firm for references, and check them out.
• Be wary of high pressure sales tactics.
• Pay by check, never with cash. Arrange to make payments in installments, for example one-third at the beginning of the job, one third when the work is nearly completed, and one-third after the service is finished.
• If you suspect fraud or have been a victim of fraud, contact your local sheriff’s office.
• When you find repair people you trust, stick with them and tell your friends.