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By MoneySense Staff on May 18, 2010
Estimated reading time: 1 minute

Green renovators get conned

By MoneySense Staff on May 18, 2010
Estimated reading time: 1 minute

Lack of regulation is creating a free-for-all market.

This article is 15 years old. Some details may be outdated.

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The Toronto Star highlights the plight of several would-be renovators who’ve lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in their quest to build or redevelop eco-friendly homes. The gist of the story is that while the Ontario provincial government offers a variety of grants and financial incentives for owners to make green renovations on homes and businesses, there are few building codes or regulations in place to guide them—leaving the industry wide open for scam artists and well-meaning but in-over-their-head builders. Meanwhile, traditional builders tell the paper that the green-development industry is rife with imposters and incompetents. Renovator beware.

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