History Main / CrookedContractor

* One of the secondary crooks in ''[[WesternAnimation/COPSAnimatedSeries C.O.P.S.]]'' is Louie the Plumber. Big Boss employs him to build hide-outs, secret passages etc. for his criminal empire -- and to break into safes and bank vaults. He's ''also'' lazy; his ActionFigureFileCard notes 247 building code violations and two convictions for "use of substandard building materials."

* One of the secondary crooks in ''WesternAnimation/{{COPS}}'' is Louie the Plumber. Big Boss employs him to build hide-outs, secret passages etc. for his criminal empire -- and to break into safes and bank vaults. He's ''also'' lazy; his toy bio notes 247 building code violations and two convictions for "use of substandard building materials."

A small household crisis, like a faulty pipe or a leaky roof is likely to hit everyone at some point, and when it does, someone profits from it.

-->--''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', "Don't Fear The Roofer"

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* ''{{ComicStrip/Dilbert}}'' has had several strips about this, but the most obvious one is when the contractor promises to come back on Monday, then shows Dilbert the calendar of the service industry's space-time continuum. No Mondays.

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* ''Film/TheMoneyPit'' revolves around this trope. Walter Fielding is swindled into buying a house, only to discover it's a fixer-upper, as every last nook and cranny is worn down enough that it's in need of repair. The contractors he hires to do the job take advantage of the situation by exploiting his trust and finding excuses to repair and rebuild pretty much everything except for the fountain of the peeing angel.

* ''ComicBook/{{Robin|Series}}'': After the Cataclysm hit Gotham a fair number of sleazy contractors started pulling off a scheme where they collected some money for repairing damaged places up front and then left never to be seen again. When some of these crooks tried to pull this on Tim's father and Jack wouldn't listen to Tim's warnings Tim tracked them down, got his dad's money back and turned them in to the police.

* This is the heart of the rivalry between [[Film/SuperMarioBros Mario Bros. Plumbing]] and Scapelli Contractors, Inc. The Mario Bros. ''look like'' the trope, but Scapelli's business ''is'' this trope--his grunts sabotage their own work while Daisy and Luigi are down in the pit with the dinosaur bones.

* Aside from the roofer Ray, ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' had this in many episodes, like the plumber who wouldn't do anything about the family's leaking pipe, until Homer did [[BrotherhoodOfFunnyHats the Stonecutters secret greeting]], after which the plumber just tightens one screw, stopping the leak.

'''Marge:''' (Laughing) That's right, you're all crooks!

'''Ray:''' That's easy -- I'm a contractor.

* ''The Money Pit''.

* Aside from the roofer Ray, ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' had this in many epsisodes, like the plumber who wouldn't do anything about the family's leaking pipe, until Homer did [[BrotherhoodOfFunnyHats the Stonecutters secret greeting]], after which the plumber just tightens one screw, stopping the leak.

* In ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' episode "After the Mold Rush", after the Hill residence sustains minor water damage, a man from an insurance company declares the house infested with mold in hopes of turning a profit from the situation.

** Averted with 'Surly Joe' the foundation repairman, who turns out to be quite friendly and helpful one Homer actually pays for him to do the repair. However Homer still chases him out of the house in anger when Joe tries to tell him how to prevent the issue from occurring again.

* In Louisiana in 1897, a bill was introduced into the state legislature that would have defined pi as four for purpose of determining materials requirements in construction, to end contractors' often outrageous bill padding. It died in the Senate.

* In ''Series/TracyBeakerReturns'' [=S2E12 Grandad=] there's Xanthe the antique seller. Frank desparately needs money for his grandad's headstone, so Xanthe buys his pocket watch for £100 and tries to sell it for £75,000. She repeats this trick later when Tracy offers her a car with the number plate X4NTHE. Since this reads Xanthe it was worth at least £100,000 to her.

* In the book of ''Literature/BigTrouble'' DaveBarry wrote about a prison contractor who used garage-door openers to actuate the cell doors. HilarityEnsues when someone drives by and hits the garage door opener by mistake.

[[TruthInTelevision Known to happen in Real Life every now and then]]

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' has the [[WeirdTradeUnion Ankh-Morpork Guild of Plumbers and Dunnikin Divers]]. Motto NON ANTE SEPTEM DIES PROXIMA, SQVIRI ("Not Before Next Week, Squire").

* ''Series/KingOfQueens'' but they're not lazy, they're Russian, drinking Vodka before work is a lot more important, and they only get coerced back into actual labour if Doug parties with them, wearing the poor sod out.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' has the Freys of the Twins aka the Lords of the Crossing; but, more specifically, Lord Walder Frey. This crossing is, in fact, one of the very, very few safe, reliable ways across the Trident (part of the biggest river system in Westeros). It is often the ''only'' way if you want to cross in bulk and at speed, be you an army or a winding merchant train, unless you wish to risk your ETA and/or goods. They are the only service providers you can go to holed up in two of the more defensible and tactically tricky positions in the Riverlands -- and, they all know it. Lucky, lucky you.
** PrivateMilitaryContractors in both Essos and Westeros have a general reputation for being... rather less than dependable when the going gets rough. The sellsword company, the Second Sons, exhibit this trait wonderfully by how they [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor continually jerk]] both Danaerys Targaryen and the Yunkai command around [[OpportunisticBastard looking out for the best deal]] almost on a minute-by-minute basis at times.

* ''GarfieldAndFriends'': [[MeaningfulName Swindler]] was the Plain Criminal sort in "Home Sweet Swindler".

** PrivateMilitaryContractors in both Essos and Westeros have a general reputation for being... rather less than dependable when the going gets rough. The sellsword company, the Second Sons, exhibit this trait wonderfully by how they continually jerk both Danaerys Targaryen and the Yunkai command around [[OpportunisticBastard looking out for the best deal]] almost on a minute-by-minute basis at times.

* ''Series/KingOfQueens'' but they're not lazy, they're [[UnfortunateImplications Russian]], drinking Vodka before work is a lot more important, and they only get coerced back into actual labour if Doug parties with them, wearing the poor sod out.