Spring is peak season for home improvement scams. Here are red flags to watch out for.

In March 2023, the roof of Tina Leggio’s 106-year-old Bay Shore home started leaking and she was in a rush to get it repaired.

In need of a contractor, the former certified nursing assistant scoured Facebook for referrals and landed on Felix Garcia, who said he was licensed and insured.

When Garcia quoted $5,500 to both replace her roof and remodel her kitchen, the mother of seven thought it was a great deal.

She quickly signed a contract, paying Garcia $2,400 in cash in initial deposit. But the work dragged on and total costs for additional projects ballooned to $42,100, Leggio, 61, said recently.

More than a year later, she filed a civil complaint in October 2024 in Suffolk County Supreme Court in Riverhead, alleging Garcia defrauded her, charged her for work not completed and stole her credit cards. Most of the work was "defective" — from a leaky roof to a broken dishwasher and poorly installed cabinets, Leggio, 61, said recently.

"It just became obvious that he had no clue what they were doing," Leggio said of the contractor and his workers. 

Garcia failed to appear in court for a June 2025 hearing, and last month, the court awarded Leggio a $95,000 judgment, which included the cost of hiring other workers to repair damages to the home.

Garcia could not be reached for comment. His attorney Xin Michael Jin, of Stony Brook, did not respond to requests for comment. 

Leggio is among hundreds of homeowners on Long Island who’ve been scammed in recent years by unlicensed contractors promising to make home improvements they cannot deliver, local authorities said. Home improvement scams are among the most commonly reported fraud categories nationwide, data shows, costing consumers nationwide a record $274 million in 2024, a tripling of losses from 2021, according to an analysis of FTC data by the Motley Fool, a multimedia financial services company based in Alexandria, Virginia. Losses from home improvement fraud totaled over $110 million during the first two quarters of 2025, according to the analysis.

As the weather gets warmer and Long Islanders are primed to spruce up their homes and repair damages from a brutal winter, experts caution that homeowners should do their homework and verify a contractor's credentials before hiring them for home projects.

“You’re about to spend a lot of money," said Mike Florio, CEO of the Long Island Builders Institute, an Islandia-based trade association that represents home contractors. "At minimum you need to make sure the person you are hiring is properly licensed.”

Leggio said she only learned much later, on Facebook, that Garcia was unlicensed. 

Home improvement fraudsters make it more difficult for legitimate contractors to compete for clients, Florio said.

“The legitimate folks are getting squeezed by the people operating on the margins,” Florio said. Licensed contractors have higher costs, he said, "and the guys who are undercutting them don’t have those.”

Common home repair scams

Scammers often use urgency, authority and fear to pressure homeowners into making quick decisions, experts say.

Leggio alleged in her complaint, she hired Garcia quickly because she needed a new roof to pass inspection for a new home insurance policy.

She also trusted him because he said he knew her late uncle.

“That’s what made me go with him,” she said. “He just seemed legit.”

They may also demand cash upfront or put undue pressure on a homeowner.

But if a stranger calls or shows up at your door claiming there’s an emergency with your roof, driveway or furnace that needs to be fixed immediately, the most important thing, consumer advocates say, is to slow down.

Amy Nofziger, senior director of fraud victim support for the AARP Fraud Watch Network, said older homeowners may be particularly vulnerable.

“They are usually home alone during the day and often aren't able to handle some of the daily maintenance needs of a property, so when the nice person at your door is warning you that your shingles are coming off, and you don't have the mobility to check them yourself, you get scared and listen to them,” she said.

Home repair scams range from unlicensed workers offering to repair roofs, pave driveways or install garage doors to unsolicited contractors offering free solar panel installations.

The Federal Trade Commission received 58,392 reports of home improvement, home repair or solar panel scams in 2025.

Nationally, losses from home improvement scams have been on the rise, increasing by 82% from 2020 to 2024, according to the Motley Fool analysis.

Roofing scams often involve someone claiming to be working for a neighbor who noticed a problem with your roof, said Claire Rosenzweig, president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau serving Long Island and greater New York City.

Even if a roof is undamaged, a scammer "may actually cause damage to ‘prove’ a problem exists,” Rosenzweig said.

In July 2024, Nassau County police accused two men, who claimed to be roof repair contractors, of damaging roofs and then going door-to- door offering to fix them, Newsday reported. Both defendants were arraigned in 2024 on multiple charges including grand larceny, scheme to defraud and soliciting without a license, according to the Nassau district attorney’s office. The cases against the men are pending, and bench warrants have been issued for their arrests, the district attorney’s office said in February.

Driveway and solar panels scams are also common.

Homeowners may receive a card in the mail or a knock on the door from a company claiming to be working nearby and offering a discount, Rosenzweig said. “They may say they just paved a neighbor’s driveway and have extra asphalt.”

“If you agree, they may simply paint your driveway black, provide extremely substandard surface paving, or take your deposit without doing any work at all,” Rosenzweig said.

Garage door repair scams are also common and are on the rise, according to the Better Business Bureau serving metro New York. There were about twice as many scam reports related to garage door openers in 2025 compared to the year before, according to the agency.

These scams often involve a bait-and-switch, Rosenzweig said. A homeowner may call for a minor repair and receive an estimate over the phone, only to be charged significantly more once work begins.

Contractors are required to adhere to posted and quoted rates, according to the BBB.

The prevalence of home repair scams led Suffolk County to create the Wall of Shame registry, aimed at raising awareness about unlicensed and fraudulent contractors in 2012. The county encourages anyone seeking to hire a home contractor to search its database for a license and complaint violations.

Garcia, the contractor Leggio hired, is among more than 800 names listed on the Suffolk County registry of unscrupulous contractors. Garcia has been placed on the wall five times since 2021 for performing home improvement, master electric and master plumbing work without a license, according to the registry.

At the state level, lawmakers are also pushing for additional consumer protections.

The “Home Improvement Fraud Prevention Act,” currently in committee in both the Senate and Assembly, would create a statewide contractor registration system and require contractors to register with the New York Secretary of State.

The bill, proposed by Democrats, also would establish a home improvement contractor board to oversee licensing and standards and increase civil fines from $500 to $1,000 for home improvement contractors “who fraudulently represent themselves” to get work.

Florio cautioned that homeowners should check with their county’s consumer affairs departments to make sure potential contractors are licensed and insured.

Consumer affairs divisions in Nassau and Suffolk protect residents by mediating complaints against businesses, enforcing local business laws, investigating claims of fraud and overseeing licensure for licensed professions.

He also warned that while everyone is looking for a deal, “the lowest price may not be worth it for you in the end.”

Licensing requirements for contractors

In New York, contractors must be licensed to perform home repair and remodeling work by county consumer affairs departments, according to the state Attorney General’s office. Unlicensed contractors could face criminal charges and fines.

In Nassau and Suffolk counties, contractors operating without a license can be charged with a misdemeanor. 

Violators in Suffolk could be fined $1,000 for a first offense and up to $5,000 for subsequent offenses, according to a new bill adopted in September.

The legislation also increases the fine for a violator, from $1,000 to $10,000, who fails to register for the Wall of Shame. 

In Nassau, violators could face fines of up to $5,000.

State law requires that customers receive written contracts for home improvement work exceeding $500, with an agreed-upon price, according to the attorney general’s office.

The Nassau District Attorney’s office received 20 complaints alleging home repair scams in 2025 and 10 case referrals from the Nassau County Department of Consumer Affairs. The district attorney's office also has issued 11 criminal summonses. Half a dozen prosecutions for home repair scams are pending in Nassau County, according to the office.

Nassau’s Consumer Affairs department received 270 home improvement-related complaints in 2025. The Suffolk counterpart received 482 contractor complaints last year.

The Suffolk division last year made three referrals for criminal prosecution of fraudulent contractors.

The Suffolk District Attorney's office said they won't comment on Garcia "unless and until there are charges.

Although the Riverhead Supreme Court awarded Leggio $95,000, she has yet to file the judgment with the county clerk’s office, the next step in the process.

Leggio doesn't think she will ever collect the money from Garcia, but said she will keep fighting.

“I’m not going to stop,” she said. “People like him have got to get off the street.”