Catching rats

In September, Yolo County started running sting operations to catch unlicensed contractors bidding illegally for construction work. The Yolo Unlicensed Response Apprehension Team, known as YoU RAT, caught their 60th unlicensed contractor this month.

To capture their prey, county staff, law enforcement and the Contractors State License Board set up traps—houses in need of overhaul. County Code Enforcement Officer Heidi D’Agostino said that sometimes three or four contractors would be crawling over the place at once: one bidding on a new roof, another on a kitchen remodel. Inside a private room, investigators would listen in. As soon as an unlicensed contractor gave a bid of $500 or more or said that he was a licensed contractor when he wasn’t, the trap snapped shut. On one day in West Sacramento, said D’Agostino, the sting netted 31 separate unlicensed contractors.

“This is a tremendous underground economy,” D’Agostino said.

According to her, unlicensed contractors can cause a lot of damage. Operating under the radar, they don’t carry the proper insurance to cover workers who get hurt on the job, and some consumers have had unlicensed contractors mess up or simply disappear without finishing work. And it’s not easy to find a licensed contractor who will fix someone else’s mistakes.

But it’s not just consumers complaining. Unlicensed contractors tend to bid a lot less on jobs, which means that licensed contractors end up hurting for business. D’Agostino said that many unlicensed contractors are identified through complaints from licensed contractors.