In the 6 years that New Orleanians have been rebuilding homes and lives post-flooding, thousands upon thousands have fallen victim to negligent or fraudulent contractors. As a non-profit that uses volunteers to assist with rebuilding houses, we have gotten many calls and assisted many homeowners who lost so much money that they were unable to continue rebuilding their homes. We made this presentation at an information meeting about a grant that will be newly available to homeowners in the Mid-City area of New Orleans, but upon hearing new reports that people who were affected by Hurricane Irene are being taken advantage of, we realized that much of this information is universal to anyone who may have to hire a contractor for a major job on their home.