Perez sounds like the ideal person to be a building inspector for the City.
A tip for all, is NEVER pay upfront and have a written contract on what will be do and for how much.
Make periodical payments AFTER the work is completed and NEVER before. If the contractor says he needs it upfront for running costs, then RUN from that builder / contractor.

TOOK OUR MONEY AND RAN

Monday, April 16, 2007
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Ripping off homeowners in $150G con job

"I hate his guts and I want him in jail," Jersey City resident Vicky Gomez says of a North Bergen construction contractor.

's not a surprise Gomez feels that way about Miguel Perez - she says he conned her out of $97,000 through a home improvement scam.

And she's not the only one.

Perez, who was indicted on four counts of theft by deception, allegedly conned more than $150,000 from four victims. If convicted on all charges, the 41-year-old Sixth Street resident could face up to 25 years in prison, although authorities say it's likely he will face a shorter prison sentence and be ordered to pay restitution.

"I'm thrilled he was indicted and hopeful more people will come forward and not be embarrassed by being swindled by this professional con man," Gomez said.

Perez also conned two victims in North Bergen an another in Union City, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said. Those homeowners lost $45,000, $15,000 and $5,000 in payments they made to Perez's company, Miaggiamar Home Designers, Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Peter Choy said.

Gomez, a real estate agent, said she wanted to completely renovate a four-family Jersey City building on Brunswick Street between Sixth and Seventh streets and another real estate agent recommended Perez for the job.

"He gutted the interior, ripped out all the electric lines, and stripped the building's exterior," Gomez said.

Once the building had been stripped, Gomez said, Perez showed her estimates from subcontractors for various portions of each project, and then bills from those contractors - $30,000 for the heating and air conditioning, $20,000 for electric work and $10,000 to remodel the basement.

But the subcontractors didn't show up to do the work, Gomez said. Perez told her not to worry, but Gomez said she later called those subcontractors herself and learned Perez had never paid them.

At one point, Gomez said Perez sent some workers to the building and they worked for three weeks - but he never paid them either. Eventually, she paid them herself, she said.

In August - six months after he'd started work, and a month after he said the entire job would be finished - Gomez went to the police. By then, Perez had disappeared, she said.

"He had no intention of doing the work," Gomez said.

Jersey City Police Department's Special Investigation Unit officers tracked him down through his father and later arrested him.

Gomez finished the job - even getting her own contracting license, which she obtained by merely filling out a form and getting insurance - by spending almost $400,000, on top of the $97,000 she said she'd already paid to Perez.