SAULT CONSTRUCTION GROUP

This has been one of the worst experiences of our life. After three months, we discovered he was not licensed. I had checked him before, but he let his license lapse three weeks before he started our project. He was working without Workers Comp insurance, risking his men and exposing us to liability if they were injured. He lied to me about them being employees and was paying them cash "under the table" without withholding. He poured the foundation incorrectly resulting in the loss of 30 sq. feet of useable floor space downstairs. He arbitratily chose to ignore the plans and did not do the special design on one corner of the house. This puts the house close to a large oak tree and means it will at some point impinge on the house. Already we cannot install a rain gutter on that corner. because it's too close. He ordered windows that were the wrong color and were not energy efficient, contrary to the plans. When we objected, he said they only came in white and he'd split the cost with us of replacing them. He left them unchanged and ignored the energy requirement. He did unnecessaery damage to the yard in accessing the back of the house. He built in things we did not want. He ran ducting for the HVAC through an outside wall around into the basement. He failed to have the steel supporting columns galvanized. He had us order a $3200 pre-fab shower only to tell us later it couldn't be used because it would not pass county codes. We had known him for five years, and he had done tenant improvements where I work, so we thought we could trust him. Shortly after he started working here, he told his crew and subcontractors not to talk to us so everything had to go through him, probably so he could control the information. He ignored things we specifically asked him to do, assuring us they would be done. He took at least $29,000 in cash we advanced and used it for unknown purposes. He failed to pay the lumber yard, electrician, HVAC subcontractor, an engineer and the plumber from the funds we advanced, and we had to make duplicate payments to them. The California State Contractors Licensing Board is moving to revoke his license. We sued him, but he defaulted. We expect our judgment against him to be over $120,000. He worked for our next door neighbor while his license was suspended during this investigation. He was limited to $500 work as a handyman, but did more and is still driving his truck with the company name on it.