History Series / CatchAContractor

The show is currently airing its third season, all shot in the UsefulNotes/LosAngeles area. It's meant to be a feel-good revenge show, with the little guy who has been taking advantage of others getting comeuppance from those that have wronged them, with Adam providing humorous commentary along with his own home improvement expertise. Its name is a play on ''[[Series/{{Dateline}} To Catch a Predator]]'' (although the "To" part was dropped due to legal issues).

[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/catch_a_contractor_xlg_1267.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:299:Why don't you just have a seat over there...next to that unfinished kitchen.]]

The show is currently airing its third season, all shot in the LA area. It's meant to be a feel-good revenge show, with the little guy who has been taking advantage of others getting comeuppance from those that have wronged them, with Adam providing humorous commentary along with his own home improvement expertise. Its name is a play on ''[[Series/{{Dateline}} To Catch A Predator]]'' (although the "To" part was dropped due to legal issues).

* TheBadGuyWins: The point of the show is to make sure this doesn't happen.

** The Criminally Lazy: One contractor left the job with the sewage relief valves uncapped, and the mother and son had been breathing in toxic fumes for ''nearly two years''. Adam points out that even if he ''was'' legally free to leave the job because they ran out of money as he had claimed, he would still be legally liable for such an {{egregious}} action.

* PlotTwist: One episode starts like any other, with a family complaining and showing seemingly bad/unfinished contract work on their house. When they confront the contractor, he seems competent and reasonable, and the family appears to be more in the wrong in their deal (mostly stemming from them refusing to sign a stucco waiver, either from not understanding it or just stubborn obstinacy, or both). In the end, the contractor still agrees to finish the job, and comes out more the good guy than the family.
** Adam stated on his podcast that the producers didn't want to use this episode because it didn't follow the formula, but he convinced them otherwise to ''prevent'' the show from becoming predictable and formulaic.

* InsurmountableWaistHeightFence: Due to the poor/unfinished nature many of the houses were left in, many of the homeowners are unable to get around large chunks of their house safely.

** Many were shown to be very shaky on their knowledge of building code and building material and techniques any licensed contractor should know, if not flat out lost when Skip and Adam talk to them about some specifics.
*** One "contractor" in Season 2 had a license, but after working with Adam Skip, he showed zero knowledge about anything. Adam surmised he memorized the answers to the contractor test but had never actually done any carpentry or construction ever.

** His "friend" was also the first one to ever get physical with one of the contractors, attacking Manny and putting him in a headlock before security separated them. Supposedly, Manny has now fully given up the business.

** The contractor Skip is also usually standing next to him, and he looks pretty intimidating (and it's said he has done MixedMartialArts in the past). So yeah, BAD idea.
* BlatantLies: Some jobs are unfinished because the contractor ran out of money for the clients (usually due to their own incompetence and having to redo things), at which point they've promised to come back and fix/finish...and then disappear.
** One episode had a high school friend of the family lie about his credentials (forged a contractor's license), estimate (not even close to what the actual cost should have been), ability to do wiring, carpentry, well, every aspect of the job. It was pretty obvious he was scamming his "friends." In the end, after stammering and making excuses the entire time redoing the their kitchen with Adam and Skip, he finally broke down in tears and admitted to the family that he was completely full of shit about everything.
* ClusterFBomb: A few of the caught contractors have incredible potty mouths when confronted.
** Adam, who usually tries to watch his language (being on TV and all), completely flips and drops a bag of Cluster F-Bombs on a completely inept contractor who refused to own up to his mistakes or apologize to the family he screwed over, even after a week of being schooled by Adam and Skip.

** Not that it stops him from complaining on his podcast that nearly all the job sites are fairly far from his home. With LA traffic, he's logging many, many hours back and forth.

*** One of the worst examples of this is a contractor that was putting in a roof vent for the family's heater. The vent didn't even make it outside of the roof and the family didn't know about the problem. If it remained unaddressed and the family used the heater for an extended period (like on a cold night) they could have all died from carbon monoxide poisoning or it could have started a fire. The usually defiant contractor changed his tune immediately after learning that his negligence could have killed the entire family.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Lamont, a crooked contractor from the third season, at first appears to be just like most of the others; a blatant liar, putting the blame on everyone but himself, unrepentant for anything he did (he even says as much), etc. And then Skip starts tearing up the floors and walls to reveal that his "work" led to the home being completely infested with black mold (thanks to leaky plumbing). Lamont immediately drops his facade and admits he's completely full of shit, and steps outside to talk with a producer about what a horrible thing he did and that he should be arrested (on the verge of tears, no less). After the house is fixed, Lamont gives the family what is probably the only truly sincere apology in the show's history. Even Adam and Skip are impressed.

A RealityShow on Creator/SpikeTV that started in 2014, hosted by comedian/Podfather Creator/AdamCarolla.

A RealityShow on SpikeTV that started in 2014, hosted by comedian/Podfather Creator/AdamCarolla.

* GenreSavvy: After the first season aired, Alison became too recognizable to be used as bait in the sting houses. They now employ various other [=PIs=] to meet the contractors face to face so they don't get wise and run.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Most people see Adam as just a goofy comedian, and a few contractors have gotten near physical with him. Anyone who knows Adam's background knows this would probably be a BAD idea, as he's a former boxer. He usually just looks amusingly at them.

* TheBadGuyWins: The point of the show is make sure this doesn't happen.

** One episode had a high school friend of the family lie about his credentials (forged a contractor's license), estimate (not even close to what the actual cost should have been), ability to do wiring, carpentry, well, every aspect of the job. It was pretty obvious he was scamming his "friends." In the end after stammering and making excuses the entire time redoing the their kitchen with Adam and Skip, he finally broke down in tears and admitted to the family he was completely full of shit about everything.

* CreatorProvincialism: The producers and Skip have expressed interest in wanting to do the show in other cities around the country; however due to Adam's insane schedule with his podcasting and other projects leaving the LA area isn't feasible for him.

** The Criminally Lazy: One contractor left the job with the sewage relief valves uncapped, and the mother and son had been breathing in toxic fumes for nearly TWO YEARS. Adam points out that even if he WAS legally free to leave the job because they ran out of money as he had claimed, he would still be legally liable for such an {{egregious}} action.
--> Adam: There's such a thing as just being a decent human being.

*** One of the most grievous examples of this is a contractor that was putting in a roof vent for the families heater. The vent didn't even make it outside of the roof and the family didn't know about the problem. If it remained unaddressed and the family used the heater for an extended period (like on a cold night) they could have all died from Carbon Monoxide poisoning or it could have started a fire. The usually defiant contractor changed his tune immediately after learning that his negligence could have killed the entire family.
* DefiantToTheEnd: Some contractors refuse to admit any wrong-doing, even when shown their shoddy work, contract and code violations, and even after deciding to fix or finish the job.

** Another, after he agreed to come back the next day and didn't show up (Adam and Skip tracked him down to a hardware store) not only got himself a lawsuit but was reported to the state licensing board.

* GenreSavvy: After the first season aired, Alison became too recognizable to be used as bait in the sting houses. They now employ various other PI's to meet the contractors face to face so they don't get wise and run.

--> Adam: I wouldn't use this tape to hang a "Kiss The Cook" sign in the kitchen.

** And another was a neighbor the family had assumed/took at his word was a contractor, in reality he was a handyman with no license.

* MermaidProblem: One contractor (who wasn't even licensed) painted an unwanted mermaid mural in his customers' bathroom for no apparent reason (and charged them $2,500), which he calls a gift and claims he was doing a "colonial-Polynesian fusion" and that more contractors paint mermaid murals than one might expect. Adam muses that he couldn't do anything with a mermaid because she would be half-fish.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Lamont, a crooked contractor from the third season, at first appears to be just like most of the others; a blatant liar, putting the blame on everyone but himself, unrepentant for anything he did (he even says as much), etc. And then Skip starts tearing up the floors and walls to reveal his "work" led to the home being completely infested with black mold (thanks to leaky plumbing). Lamont immediately drops his facade and admits he's completely full of shit, and steps outside to talk with a producer about what a horrible thing he did and that he should be arrested (on the verge of tears, no less). After the house is fixed, Lamont gives the family what is probably the only truly sincere apology in the show's history. Even Adam and Skip are impressed.
** To a lesser extent, Vic, the contractor that only speaks Spanish, has a moment like this when he sees his horrible work with the families heating vent. He still tries to blame other people for the work but is visibly disturbed with the news that leaving the vent in disrepair could have killed the family with Carbon Monoxide or started a fire.
* NotInMyContract: The standard excuse why a job wasn't finished or done correctly. As a rule, the money ran out and the contractor skedaddled. If the show doesn't teach anything else, it's DO NOT GIVE ALL THE MONEY UP FRONT to a contractor.

* PlotTwist: One episode started like any other, with a family complaining and showing seemingly bad/unfinished contract work on their house. When they confronted the contractor, he seemed competent and reasonable, and the family appeared to be more in the wrong in their deal (mostly stemming from them refusing to sign a stucco waiver, either from not understanding it or just stubborn obstinance, or both). In the end, the contractor still agreed to finish the job, and came out more the good guy than the family.
** Adam stated on his podcast that the producers didn't want to use this episode because it didn't follow the formula, but Adam convinced them otherwise to ''prevent'' the show becoming predictable and formulaic.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Only a few contractors have outright refused to come back and help. Adam and Skip generally hound them until they come to the job site or it's apparent they have no intention of going (and thus, earn a lawsuit they could have easily avoided).

** The Criminally Lazy: One contractor left the job with the sewage relief valves uncapped, and the mother and son had been breathing in toxic fumes for nearly TWO YEARS. Adam points out that even if he WAS legally free to leave the job because they ran out of money as he had claimed, he would still be legally liable for such an egregious action.