Include all agreed-upon details in the document and ask your contractor to sign it before they start any work. First, attempt to communicate with the contractor directly by calling or emailing them.

Skip Reynolds, executive officer of the Home Builders Association of Orangeburg-Bamberg-Calhoun counties, says the legislation, while not a panacea, would help contractors hit hard by the recession.

Taxpayers won't be on the hook to pay for this sign's replacement, said Pat Barnes, Rohnert Park's deputy city engineer. "This one is on the contractor. Taxpayers won't pay anything," Barnes said.