FOLEY - Residents are urged to continue to use caution and follow guidelines when hiring contractors for home repairs as our area continues to recover from Hurricane Sally. Chuck Lay, chief building inspector with Foley’s Community Development Department, says it is critical that residents protect themselves and others from fraud and substandard repair work on homes and businesses.

“Our first line of defense is ensuring that whomever does your work is properly licensed and second is ensuring that any work that requires permitting, gets permitted,” said Lay. Permitting allows city inspectors the opportunity to identify substandard work, saving homeowners money and preventing further damage.

Here are things to remember:

• Any contractor doing work for others in the city of Foley is required to have a city license.
• Most work, other than minor repairs, requires permitting.
• Anyone doing residential roof work over $2,500 is also required to have an Alabama Roofing License.
• Anyone doing residential repairs worth over $10,000 is also required to have an Alabama Homebuilder’s license.
• Commercial, electrical, plumbing and HVAC also have specific licenses.
• If you are asked to pull the permit for the contractor, you should be concerned.

It is also important to know that most residential and some commercial roofs that are replaced to the Foley codes also meet FORTIFIED standards and are eligible for insurance discounts, however, a FORTIFIED evaluator must be involved before the work is done. The city cannot certify homes for this discount.

For more information visit https://www.dontgoof.org/reroof , https://www.smarthomeamerica.org/ or contact the City of Foley Inspection Department at 251-952-4011.