Every consumer needs to be aware of contractor rip-offs in both the automotive and home repair industries. When you hire people to work on your house or car, you're taking a huge risk.
Even the honest people are in competition with the crooks, so they have to cut corners too. And nobody cares about what happens to your property 10-20 years down the road - nobody cares, except you.
The easiest way to protect yourself on home repairs is to demand that YOU purchase all materials. Get a detailed quote for labor and materials, then if you like the quote, go ahead and offer to hire the contractor, but tell them you'll purchase the materials and have it delivered to the job site.
If you don't do this, and instead you hand the contractor $2000 for materials for example, the very FIRST thing the contractor will do is start cutting corners. They will immediately search friends, family, craigslist, and FB Marketplace for leftover, cheap supplies they can buy for pennies on the dollar. They'll buy junk and low quality stuff. They will even go as far as manufacturing parts that will fit, out of scrap. They know every trick in the book and the competition is fierce. Even the honest contractor is forced into this game in order to survive.
There are many other protections you can use, but the the first step is to become educated about what you're up against.
I've NEVER seen what you describe happen in this country, however a common trick is to buy more materials than they need for your job and use the materials in another job, but bill BOTH home-owners for the extra materials. As an example, a roofer re-roofs 2 houses with 2 sets of workers. He orders 2 sets of shingles (one for each roof), but bills each home-owner for enough shingles to re-roof 1.5 houses.
I had a renovation done and noticed 2x4 studs were charged to me. My job used no less than 2x6, so there was absolutely no reason to buy 2x4's. I caught the contractor and refused to pay his padded bill. He agreed I should pay whatever I thought was fair! Study your receipts folks.
My biggest pet peeve in the automotive industry is the SHOP CHARGES. I refuse to pay them as that is simply overhead that every company has, but most don't pad your bill with it. If EVERYONE refuses to pay them, I'm sure they will soon disappear off the bills.
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