I walked into the first session of a 15-hour continuing-education course, expecting to be teaching a room full of real estate agents eager for a credit to apply to their license renewal requirements.

Instead, I was greeted by a mix of people, some agents, but most of them small investors looking for cost-effective ways to turn older houses into viable rental properties.

Surprisingly, there wasn't a single flipper in the room. Most of the 14 adults were looking at the long-term, eager to find properties that will provide them with an income. They aren't afraid of bubbles or slowing markets. Most don't have very deep pockets, so they can't buy huge properties nor can they spend vast sums to turn what they can afford into palaces commanding the highest rents.

I had to toss my prepared remarks out the window, and focus on a new set of requirements. What followed in the next five weeks was a learning experience for me as I hope what I presented was helpful to them.

I get e-mails, letters and telephone calls in volumes that find me straining for work time to deal with, but it is rare that I meet people face to face, for three hours at a time, for this kind of give and take.

Each had several horror stories to tell about how someone along the way -- home inspector, repairman, contractor, plumber, building official, insurance company, bank -- had done them wrong.

I've heard the same stories from thousands of readers over the last 17 years. I'm skeptical of many of them. Often I'm hearing just one side. Usually, I'm the first to be told that there is a problem, as if my job is to represent, for example, the complaining homebuyer to the builder.

When you hear the same kinds of stories from a roomful of smart people covered with bruises from bumping up against brick walls, you quickly toss skepticism out the window.

People are nervous about handing great quantities of money over to virtual strangers, even if they have a contract that protects their interests in the transaction. They wonder if there is some better product on the market than the one being installed, or if there is a better way of doing a particular job.

They don't want whomever they hire to tell them that "I've been in the business for umpteen years and I know what's best." They want to deal with someone who will listen to them and to at least give sincere consideration to what they say.

I will acknowledge that there are consumers who are just impossible to deal with, but if the customer and the service provider communicate directly and from the beginning to the end of every job, the opportunities for dispute will be minimized.

Jay Cipriani, a contractor from Woodbury, N.J., takes on about 100 remodeling jobs a year. Before he signs a contract with a client, he takes the client through a six-to-10 week "education period." For two hours an evening over those weeks, he shows the clients the kinds of materials -- cabinets, lumber, appliances, windows and doors -- available, and has them start to choose the products that will be included in the 36-page contract that he prepares for each remodeling job.

Once the session is over, he meets with the client and goes over every line in that contract, having the customer sign off on each item. Included in the contract is a provision that any change needs to be agreed to by both parties, and that if the change adds to the cost of the project, then the client will have to agree to that as well.

He accepts no money upfront. There is no deposit. The only money the client has to hand over before the work begins is to pay the architect who designed the project and the permit fees. At the end of every workweek, Cipriani shows up on site, shows the client everything that has been completed during the week, and the customer signs a check only for what has been done.

Cipriani lets the customer pay the material suppliers directly when the materials arrive, but with the contractor's discount. That way, the suppliers will be sure to get the materials to the site on time, knowing that's when they will be paid.

By requiring this education period before the contract is signed, Cipriani is able to find the prospective clients that will not be satisfied, no matter how he tries to compromise.

"After a few sessions, you know," he said. "That's when I suggest that maybe the client would be better off finding another contractor he or she could work with more easily."