Also doing business as Chuck Ledford or Charles Ledford and LEC (Ledford Electric Company) I finally had to Terminate this man's employment on 16 April 2012 after 9 months. This man has been remodeling my 2 bathrooms, bedroom and closet for more than 9 months. He shows up, if I am lucky, 2 days of the week for less than 4 hours per day and then expects a thousand to $1500 for the week. He had my Lowes Card and my Home Depot card for months and I am still trying to figure out what he purchased for actual use in my home. Chuck claimed to be a friend but, friends don't charge friends $1200 to paint a dining room when any painter in the country will do it for $125 -150 per room. The room was already painted but he put a different color on it. He claimed to have repaired holes in the walls but they were the holes he put in it because I had another drywall guy come in last fall to complete the work. He said it took 3 people 40 hours to paint a 12 x 13 room. I did it the first time in about an hour. I had no hot water for more than 6 months because he screwed up the plumbing and then charged me again for fixing his mistake. I begged him to get it fixed but again, it took more than 6 months. He had to dig up the concrete slab again because the piping he put in last summer was wrong. He then tried to claim that my water tank was full of sediment but that was not true since I replaced both heater elements last fall and drained the tank. He adds hours that he did not work to the bill. I know this because my mother was watching the house while he was working and kept track of his hours. I gave him a blueprint for the work he should have done and the rooms look nothing like the way I wanted it. When my mom questioned him on the work, he stated that it was easier to get forgiveness than approval. He does not charge a fair price ,nor market price, for the job but, instead, he charges what he thinks you can ?afford.? He was overheard stating many times, "Mark can afford it." when he was questioned on the price he was charging me. I was told this by another contractor I had working for me, by his employees and by my Mother whom he stated it to. He has never finished one job that he has started but, instead, opens many jobs or he will go back ad tear out what he just did and do it over. Now, my house is completely torn apart. He creates busy work. He wastes materials that I pay for. He uses my tools and many of those have gone missing. I m not accusing him of taking anything but, this could just be a coincidence. I get the feeling that this man somehow thinks that he is entitled to some of my paycheck; that this is a permanent job, that I am a GSA supplier that he can just purchase anything he wants on my credit cards and that I am a union employer and he is a union employee that is entitled to get a paycheck whether he works or not. He does very poor work and I have pictures to prove it. He ripped out a tile floor that I told him not to because it was level. Then he charges me for it. Then when he went to put the bamboo floor down on the floor that he just ripped up, he didn't level the floor and it drops 1? from the center of the room to the wall. Now I have to rip up $300 of new hardwood floor and scrap it. I gave him 5 bags of floor level and there are only three left. Funny thing is, he didn't use any in my house. The bathroom floor, bedroom floor and bathtub all tilt and are not level. He pulled the A/C filter out and I had to get an A/C guy to clean it so I had heat last winter. The filter is still taped to the wall and the filter holder is in the spare room still waiting to be put in... at least 6 months now. He installed my brand new Jacuzzi tub and dropped a hammer or something in it and chipped it. He also broke the plumbing in it and charged me to replace it. The two showers that he installed are ruined because they are stained and scratched beyond repair. He also never filled in the hole in the floor under the shower and when you step into it the shower floor buckles. They will have to be removed and filled in. He never finished the brickwork on the outside of the windows and when it rains, water soaks the walls. I already paid him for this and he wanted to charge me again to fix the brick work. I begged him for a year to fix the pump house when it went out and finally had to get another guy to do it. He asked the guy how much he was charging me and when the guy told him, Chuck told him to double the price because ?Mark could afford it? When I unexpectedly returned from a business trip, I found him sitting in my lazy-boy, watching TV and drinking my beer at 10:00am, instead of working. Judging by his comments me, I can only conclude that he is reading my personal mail instead of working on my house. These are only a few examples. I have many more. Bottom line, I would not hire this man again. I will file a complaint with the BBB and the Attorney General in addition to Angie's List
Description of Work: Remodeling of 2 bathrooms, bedroom and closet. Removed and replaced 5 Windows.
Rating Category
Rating out of 5
quality
1.0
value
1.0
professionalism
1.0
responsiveness
1.0
punctuality
1.0
$20,000
Response from LEDFORD ELECTRICAL & CONSTR
I am going to go in the order in which his statement is written so please be patient. The time frame of 9 months is very truthful if not even longer. The reason being the member does not know how to manage his money. He owed me $4500.00 for more than 5 months for the original work performed, which included about $15000.00 worth of plumbing that I did both the electrical and plumbing for around $8000.00. Then plumbing was extremely extensive sewage and relocating it to his new layout. This included 2 toilets, 2 sink drains, 2 shower drains, and 1 tub drain, and his hot and cold water lines that had been already cut lose my his father. Which as that time he did not identify the hot and cold. All the existing was in cast iron piping, so all this had to be change over to schedule 40 pvc. During this progress he was provided pictures while he was out of town and he said he did not realize how extensive it was. Once everything was done per layout. Then several yards of concrete had to be put back to the proper level of the existing slab. And the concrete had to be mixed by hand do to the location of the job. Again any contractor would have charged $15000. , he got in trouble with the IRS for back taxes of around $15,000.00 and then in November he was fired from his job. So I carried this balance of $5500.00 until December 2011, he gave me $1000.00and that put his balance down to $4500.00, of that he promised to pay me in February 2012, because he was starting a new job. Also in December he managed to go to Korea and remarry a women from a different country prior to the time line of Alabama law from his divorce from another women that he meant from a different country. Now he has the additional expense of trying to get his new wife to this country. I know this last part has nothing to do with the job but it has to do with his mental statement. So in January I started back work at his house because he was starting and me job making $18000.00 a so he would be able to pay me and wanted me to get his house ready for his new wife. When February rolled around he still did not have the money to pay me so he gave me this 6 wheel amphibious machine that he thought I should be able to get %5500.00 for once sold. It did not run so after two trips to the shop and almost $500.00 later we I finally got it running well enough to sell. Then I cleaned it up and painted the rims but know luck in selling it. Here in Alabama people want 4 wheelers not these 6 wheelers. Finally after several months I took it to the auction in Atlanta were I was only able to get $3000.00 for it. So that left a balance of $1500.00 still owed since August 2011. As far as his Lowes and Home Depot card yes he left those with me to purchase material as needed. There was never anything put on those cards except for material for his house. The reason for both cards because neither one of them would work together. One of them was always cut off do to over limit. His dining room, the only paint on the walls was a primer white. That day we painted all the walls in both the dining room and the hallways. But first we repaired the walls and once painted we cut and put the trim around all the doors in this area and installed the base board. Then chalked and painted this. The this invoice was actually for over $2000.00 and it was for all week long which included his master bedroom and bath, of which he only paid $1200.00. Let’s back up to December, when I went to him to get the $1000.00 from him we talked about him wanting me to get started back on the job because of his new employment he asked me to give him a rough estimate of what we were looking at to finish and base on the work with no changes we were looking between $7500.00 and $9000.00. And that was fine. But, when you start wanting showers hand built and tiles then the price changes along with the time frame. In reference to his showers for both bathrooms he bought the cheapest shower units he could get. Once he realized this in stud of have the cheap piece of plastic on the all he asked me to custom build and tile both shows using white and blue tiles in one bathroom and which and black tiles in the master bathroom. This would have increased the cost at least $1400.00 per bath. Which the work was completed in both bathrooms. Then the bath tub in the master bath we had to custom build and tile it to match the shower. All was completed except one side and front Because we left open checking for any leaks. As far as the shower based yes they got dirty but it was combination of being let out side for 6 months in the dirt and weather underneath a lean to structure. But again I had every intention of clean these and if need be there is a paint that could have been used to resurface both bases. His chip in his tub, I am not sure how or when it got there but I noticed it when we finally brought the tub in from outside under the lean to in March 2012. Ask him for proof of purchase which will show it was purchase around last September 2011, and kept outside in the dirt with stuff piled on top of it. Again I was going to fix it for him, it was not all the way thru. Let’s get to the hot water. Yes he had both element s changed out because I did it. He called me one Saturday afternoon when my wife and I were out and begged us to come over right away which we did. The sedimate deposits were so heavy in the bottom of the tank that we had to change to lower elimate under pressure because we could not get the tank to drain, so I got soaking wet. This did not fix the problem. He told me no problem he still has hot water in his main bathroom do to a on additional how water heater I installed at an earlier date. Once his mother got here I decided to go ahead and tackle the problem and cleaned all the sediment deposits out so that the water would cycle threw. Let’s talk about his tools. The only tool of his that I used was his miter saw and that was just to keep me from having to pull mine out. He already had his out and they take up so much room. I had my crew remove all his other tools and put them in his shed to get them out of the way. I buy Dewalt tools and he buys Walmart, there is a big difference. Let’s talk about the statement it’s easier to get forgiveness then approval, this was said when his mother was wanting to paint his walls in the dining room and hallway that we talked about earlier that was primer white which he was going to leave . So once we had the conversation his mother ran to Lowes with his card that I gave her and she picked out colors that she like and brought them back so me crew and I could drop what we were doing and do this for her so she could have it done before her son got home. Which we did. Let’s talk about the very poor work. Why is it the work was the best until he started running up his big bill that he was unable or willing to pay. Why did he let me stay there the last 3 weeks before all this an get the job about 95% complete. He made a statement that he paid me $4000.00 the last month and all he can see for it is paint on the walls. Well if you can see paint then obviously something has gotten done. There was a lot of work that went in to this job to get it ready to paint. Let’s talk about the floor, and yes one of my guys showed up when he was not supposed to and removed the existing tile in the master bedroom floor which he was supposed to. But I went and rented the equipment to remove the left over tile concrete from the floor and did all the work myself at no charge to him. But let me say that is was the proper way to do the job. He knows very little about construction if anything at all and he is always wanting to do things half ass. The bamboo flooring we were putting down and without a wood sub base then the floor had to be glued with a moisture barrier glue. On the existing tile with grout lines it would have been almost impossible. Not to mention all the door jams would have been raised for the height. Before he can say something is not level (new floor), he needs to learn how to read both a tape measure and a level. I think this should help you all out a little bit. Bottom line is he didn’t have the money to pay me and let me stay there to get as much done as possible, but once I pushed him for additional money, pressure got to him and he took a friendship and threw it away. It is amazing he owed by July 2012, $15000.00 back taxes to the IRS, and he let me go on April 16, 2012. Day before the new tax year was do and I am sure he owed another $20,000.00 to $ 30,000.00 in taxes to the IRS. He is a contractor so no taxes are withheld and instead of paying every three months he goes all year without setting anything back for his taxes tax obligation. The only resolution to this situation is that he is going to pay his outstanding balance which is close to $6900.00. I have already started legal action against him. This debt will be paid. I am not going to let him take advantage of my goodness and friendship to have this work completed and not pay. Anybody else I would have got 50% up front and all material. This is the standard. One other thing, please ask him for a copy of his airline ticket where he was supposed to have come home early and caught me drinking beer and sitting in his recliner at 10 A.M. His statement is full of bald face lies and that is a fact. I would have never expected this from him but I guess you truly can never fully trust people like this. This his 6th marriage, one would have to wonder why. You can contact me if you need to on my cell phone at 334-648-3552 Sincerely, Charles Ledford Owner/Operator
All statements concerning insurance, licenses, and bonds are informational only, and are self-reported. Since insurance, licenses and bonds can expire and can be cancelled, homeowners should always check such information for themselves. To find more licensing information for your state, visit our State Contractor License Requirements page.
*Contact business to see additional licenses.
Service Categories
Homebuilders,
General Remodeling,
Plumbing,
Electrical
FAQ
LEDFORD ELECTRICAL & CONSTR is currently rated 1 overall out of 5.
No, LEDFORD ELECTRICAL & CONSTR does not offer free project estimates.
No, LEDFORD ELECTRICAL & CONSTR does not offer eco-friendly accreditations.
No, LEDFORD ELECTRICAL & CONSTR does not offer a senior discount.
No, LEDFORD ELECTRICAL & CONSTR does not offer emergency services.
No, LEDFORD ELECTRICAL & CONSTR does not offer warranties.
