What I've seen happen is a contractor comes into a new neighborhood and does a first class job on a home. That elicits positive comments that get people to hire them for their work. But the subsequent work is never as good as the first one(s) and people are disappointed and upset.
Then the contractor moves on to the next new neighborhood, or changes the name of the company, and the whole thing starts again.
Best advice, as posted above, is never pay anything upfront, and no final payment until the work is done to your satisfaction. Reputable contractors will not balk at those terms because they value their reputation. The others will object because their reputation means nothing. They will just disappear and resurface later as someone different.
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