Illegal and Unlicensed Contractors are in Pleasanton Neighborhoods Soliciting Construction Projects

Unlicensed contractors in the city of Pleasanton are a part of the $60 to $140 billion dollar underground economy the government is not collecting tax revenue from. 

I was mowing my front lawn on a recent Saturday morning when a white pickup truck pulled up in the street alongside my driveway. A man got out, approached me and handed me a business card.

He asked if he could redo my combination stone paver and concrete driveway. He explained that he was doing a job up the street swinging his right arm west toward Pleasanton Ridge on Muirwood Drive.

I walk and jog through this neighborhood every day and I had not seen any of the homeowners in the area having stone pavers or concrete work done.

I put his business card in my pocket and explained to the man that because of the slow economy I wasn't ready to invest money in a stone paver and concrete job for my property — even though my driveway is cracked and buckling from my neighbor's tree roots.

I had previously received bids from licensed contractors for the necessary work and had decided not to go with the project this year.

This person continued talking, stating he would "come in and quickly fix up my driveway; that it was just a matter of compacting the soil and resetting the stones and pouring new concrete with support."

I informed him that it would be more involved than that. A root grinder would need to grind up the roots and it needed a 4-foot-by-12-inch wide retaining wall at the property line to deflect the neighbor's tree roots. That 1-inch rebar is necessary to prevent the new concrete job from movement on the clay soil.

He said "all that work is probably not necessary," that he "would put down a piece of steel to deflect the neighbor's tree roots".

A couple of hours later I took out his business card and looked it over. I noticed there was no contractor's license number on his business card and no business address. Two red flags for me.

I went online and checked his name and his business name in the state's database for legal licensed contractor's. He was not licensed. His name and his business name were not listed.

I downloaded a form to report potential contractor fraud, filled out the form, mailed it along with a cover letter explaining the events and included the business card the man had given me. The form is called "Lead Referral-Statewide Investigative Fraud Team" (SWIFT).

As a double check I took a walk around the neighborhood to see if there were any stone paver jobs or concrete driveway work going on. There was none.

Unlicensed contractors are a part of the massive underground economy in America that does not pay taxes, insurance or follow safety laws and regulations. Unlicensed contractors do not carry worker's compensation insurance, which is required by law. Their employees are temporary workers that loiter around Home Depot. Some of those workers may be illegal immigrants.

Licensed contractors must demonstrate at least four years of experience and education in the trade for which they are licensed, be fingerprinted, have an FBI background check and be bonded.

Anyone performing construction work in California that totals $500 dollars or more in labor and materials must be licensed by the Contractor's State License Board, (CSLB).

Legal licensed contractors will appreciate the action I took.