Website Targets Bad Contractors BUFFALO (wned) - If you're looking to do some work on your home, you can help yourself at the keyboard of your computer says State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

With some help from the publishers of the magazine Consumer Report, the attorney general is offering a website to help homeowners avoid home improvement scams.

Cuomo says his www.nyknowyourcontractor.com is likely to be more helpful in the immediate future because more and more homeowners are expected to rehab their homes rather than move.

The new website will have information on everything from advice on what to do in advance, like checking past performance and insurance, to making sure there are no complaints pending on past work.

Cuomo says the goal is prevention.

"Rather than being in the cleanup business, we want to be in the prevention business. Before you sign the contract, call the Attorney General's office. Before you sign the contract, check on the website to make sure the contractor...is a bona fide contractor," said Cuomo.

Cuomo says the base of the problem is that contractors Upstate are not licensed and regulated as they are Downstate.

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