Jimtheframer

We were quoted for a framing job and paid Jim in full when the work was completed. Several weeks after completion of our project he showed up and tried to shake us down for another 23k. We were totally shocked by his demands. We offered to pay for 1 item in his laundry list of charges however he refused. He sent us threatening letters on pleading paper used by attorneys perhaps representing himself as one? He threatened to “line” our property. Yes, you read that correctly. We did some research and found he did not have an active contractor license. He filed a case against us in small claims court. Jim tried to convince the judge he was not acting as a contractor but as a consultant however the judge saw right through his word salads and ruled in our favor ie we did not owe him another dime. Jim did file a lien on our property for the 23k several months after his attempted shakedown. Even though he lost his case he has not retracted the lien. The guy was unhinged after our court case and threatened us that if he were to be awarded so much as a dollar he was going to foreclose on our property. I feel sorry for any of his clients he may have bullied in a similar matter and were not familiar with the law.

He used workers from LaborReady to perform the first floor framing and installing of plywood subfloor.  He refused to let them do a nice floor leveling job and refused to make corrections in the framing.  For example his guys installed floor joists not per the plan resulting in longer spans and spongier floor framing.  The first floor was over 1-1/4 inches out of level in places when we turned the job over to a competent framer  and got Jim the Framer off the job.  He refused to pay us the overpayment of about $30,000 .
His State license is under "Probation" which we learned unfortunately after signing him on, that he is not allowed to bring anyone other than himself onto a jobsite.  On top of that he demanded a bogus $10,000 price increase for negligible changes in the framing plan, which a competent framer judged to be equal to or less cost to frame than the original design,  While Jim the Framer claimed the minor revisions should cost another $10,000 to do, the competent framer offered to do them and eventually did them for the same price.
Jim the Framer also tried to claim  other costs  to justify running away with about $30,000 in overpaid funds. 
Public Warning!  Do not use Jim the Framer, alias JWDIncorporated, Jim Dumas, of  Carlsbad Ca.