Rebuilding after Hurricane Helene and avoiding contractor pitfalls

Neighbors across Southwest Florida and beyond are picking up the pieces and assessing the damage left by Hurricane Helene.

Hiring a contractor can add to the overwhelming burden of it all because the ugly truth is disasters tend to bring out fraudsters.

So, how can you be sure you’re getting the right person for the job?

WINK News reporter Haley Zarcone spoke with a licensed contractor who’s been hard at work in our area since the storm, and they gave some tips on what homeowners should know.

Like clockwork, contractors like Jaimie Walczak suddenly have their hands full once a storm passes.

“We are trained to go through it. We know what we need to do,” Walczak explained. She is the president of Paradise Island Contracting. “If you hire the right contractor, you really won’t have to worry about your house being livable.”

Belongings are on the side of the road while homes sit behind them with water; there’s a domino effect of damage.

“Once that drywall soaks up that water, it’s very hard to dry it out, especially exterior walls where you have insulation. You really need to remove that drywall, that base, trim that insulation, dry out that framing all the way and set up the equipment.”

Henry Cox just got into town Wednesday, and his home is lucky; the damage received is a fridge by the curb and a fan in the garage.

“Ian was about $150,000 of damage to the first level and up; this just is a garage,” Cox said. “You see the refrigerator there, and they lost their washer and dryer, but I’d say $5,000. OK, yeah, it’s not catastrophic by any means.”

But he worries for those neighbors who haven’t come home yet.

“What we’re going to see is more debris is going to come out because some people haven’t opened their doors, and they’re going to open their doors, and I think it’s not good because we’ve had now our first week, you go into the second week, you’ve got to have mold and things like that are going to progress very quickly,” Cox explained.