SDY Builders Inc

Prior to joining Angie's List, I asked a friend to recommend a contractor for a beautification project on the side of my house. The friend of my friend wasn't available so he recommended Scott Young of SDY Builders. Instead of getting 3 bids on the project, I stupidly trusted that this "friend of a friend" would do right by me. It was a costly mistake and one that, thanks to Angie's List, I won't ever repeat. Anyway, the project involved cutting a single door opening to the side of my house, a lattice cover for my air conditioning unit and building and installing a gate at the side of the house. We signed a contract for approximately $4000 on 4/23/13 and I paid him half of it up front. The first problem was when the carpenter installed the door swinging the opposite direction of what I had asked. With a limited amount of space to create a patio area, that was a very important detail. When asked about it the carpenter said he didn't think there would be room to open that way because it would hit the wall. I measured and there was 4 inches to spare. So, he had to redo it leaving big gouges in the framework that had to be fixed. For a couple of weeks after that, painters and plaster workers would show up erratically and work for an hour or two in the late afternoon. I was consumed with other projects I had going so I wasn't paying a lot of attention to how long this was taking. But after nearly a month and it wasn't finished and the work was definitely looking sub-standard, I called Scott and said I wanted him to finish the door and cancel the rest of the work I had planned. After talking to a couple of other contractors, I realized that I had already over-paid him for the door so I was beyond shocked when he presented me with an additional $1000 bill to cancel our agreement. When I objected to paying more for something I already was unhappy with, he threatened to put a lien on my house. I agreed to pay him an additional $500 if he would sign a paid in full and go away. I've hired 3 other contractors since then (all of them on Angie's List) and have been completely happy with their work and their professionalism. So, although I over-paid for a very poor job, at least I can warn others about my experience with SDY Builders. I would not recommend you hire them.