N E CONSTRUCTION INC

This is a long overdue review; I would give this business a minus 10 if it were possible. However, let me preface this review by saying that the actual work performed was, for the most part, acceptable. The end result looks great (we had a second storey addition); it was the process which was one of the worst experiences of our lives. Everyone expects construction to be a horrible experience, but this could have been so much smoother were it not for the child-like behaviour, absent-mindedness and shady practices of the foreman/contractor, Nick Engleman. He started off nice-as-pie, willing to accommodate our needs, offering to do a few extra things here and there to bring our dream to fruition. When we started this project, we were 2-3 months pregnant, and he assured us the job would take 4-5 months, with a projected end-date of around October, when our baby was due in November. Not something to recommend, doing construction while pregnant, but we wanted to do this before the baby, so we went ahead with it. We started off on good standing with Nick, and things seemed OK, until the work really began. The construction was finally finished in February. Worthy of note, we had been advised by Nick that we could still live in the house during construction, which we absolutely realised would slow down the job a bit, but better, financially, than finding somewhere else to live. While I could go on, and on, about our awful experience, I will sum up a few notable points, in no discernible order, with bullet-points, for brevity’s sake; 1. He gave us a lump-sum estimate; when asked for an itemized estimate, he went ballistic; literally pounding his fists on the table, yelling at my wife (who was home alone as I was out of town) and spouting nonsense about how many Masters degrees he has, and that it was such an insult to ask him for this. My wife called me in tears about this, as she’d had to eject him from the house. 2. We had requested 9ft ceilings on the upper floor with him, but when his crew started to work on the framing, we measured the frame only to find they had done 8ft ceilings. Mortified, we spoke with him and he essentially blamed us for approving the drawings. Not like we’re experts in these matters, naturally we had trusted him and his architect. He eventually relented and added a sliding door for us at no extra cost; this was while we were relatively amicable with him. 3. As part of the work, we installed a whole new kitchen and added new flooring. He had initially said, verbally, that he would install whatever we bought. After much deliberation, we purchased ceramic flooring for the whole house. When informed of this, he flat-out refused to install it, telling us it was too expensive to do so. He even moaned at the cost of our choice of paint. 4. The plywood base sheeting, underneath our newly installed flooring, was installed with nails instead of screws, as he clearly didn't want to pay the expert subcontractor to do that, so he had his own guys install using nail guns. When questioned about this, he at first insisted that screws were used, then changed his story to “we used special nails”. I have been under the house since then, and can confirm normal nails were used - a photo is included here. 5. The contract he wrote (by hand; he refused to respond to texts or emails - everything was verbal or handwritten) clearly states he would change the flooring in the “existing building”. He flat out refused to switch the flooring in the existing bathroom, which to this day does not match the rest of the house. 6. Despite knowing our predicament and timescale, and despite saying at some point, when we complained about being behind schedule, that he “would make some time up”, NOT ONCE in 9 months did he send his crew on a weekend. 7. We had to be super careful to save many situations from disaster; my wife went to the City to ask for regulations, as he claimed he would not be able to carry the second storey on, upwards, in line with the original footprint, claiming regulations meant he would need to come in a foot. We found this to be untrue, thankfully, and managed to re-acquire that extra foot. He, of course, tried to take credit for this work. 8. I found his workers one day carefully going round a window with chicken wire, ready for stucco preparation, when that window was to be removed. We had noticed the window was not removed on the plans, and complained a number of times to Nick, who reassured us it would be taken care of. When I asked the crew about this, they were adamant Nick never told them. He literally walked onto the site at that point, and boldly claimed he had told them. They weren’t amused. 9. When our existing roof was removed, his crew ripped out all the existing electrical wiring (kitchen, dining room). Later, he informed us we would have to pay for EVERY LIGHTING SOCKET in the same areas, INCLUDING the sockets which he had ripped out. This was to cost us over $2000. I have been advised since that this was essentially illegal, but literally the day before the plasterboard crew was due to come in and do their work, he flat-out refused to cover the costs, and told us he would just have them install the boarding everywhere, regardless of whether we had electrical wiring there or not. 10. Without asking our permission, his crew used our carport at the rear of the house as their trash pile, as he was too cheap to pay for a skip/refuse carton. He then refused to have the debris hauled away in an appropriate fashion. I think they only emptied it out three times in 9 months. They destroyed our garden. We had rats. Lovely. 11. During one heated phone call with him, he put his wife on the phone with us. Instead of trying to act as an intermediary, she proceeded to insult and argue with us. As a reminder, my wife was about 7 months pregnant at this point. Highly unprofessional. 12. He would ask for money ahead of finishing some milestones on the payment schedule, pushing my wife to go to the bank, questioning the way we do banking. He even questioned my wife’s education and background. One day, he came round, near the end, and was all smiles, super charming, trying to sell us on the idea of an additional piece of work we considered, then suddenly asked that we pay him $10,000, there and then. Needless to say, we don’t keep that kind of money in our mattresses, and he turned sulky and aggressive. 13. He had all-along informed us that we would need to be out of the house for a few days. At one point I distinctly recall him saying “a couple of days”. This turned into us having to be out of our house for FIVE WEEKS. While our daughter was born. He was completely unapologetic; couldn’t have cared less.Cost us a LOT of extra cash. 14. In our new-addition bathroom, he flatly refused to add a small backsplash on the new sink (around 6 sq feet), claiming “it’s not in the contract”. Quite how something as standard as a backsplash in a brand new bathroom which he built is NOT in the contract is beyond my understanding. 15. It got so bad, dealing with him, that I had to record every phone call and in-person conversation, as I feared we would end up in court with him, and I wanted to make sure I had all his lies and coercion saved for posterity. 16. I guess, in hindsight, that this is a common trick in the business, but if you’re considering construction for the first time, you may not be aware; Nick had proudly flashed his contractor license around when we first met, but NOT ONCE did he lift a finger, that I know of, on the job site. ALL the work was done by his crew, who I will not fault or slander. 17. As mentioned, his attention to detail as a foreman was laughable. We recently had to change our tankless water heater. This is affixed to an area which was affected by the construction, and was re-stuccoed. I kid you not, the worker doing the stucco WENT AROUND the old boiler, so that, unbeknown to us, there was a gaping hole in the stucco, covered only by the heater. I’ve attached a photo here. Unbelievable. 18. It wasn’t just us that had a terrible experience; in the early stages of the job, while we were still on good terms, we recommended Nick to a friend of ours for some work. Her project turned into a disaster, too, and we heard very familiar tales from her. We’ll be imploring her to add her experiences here. There were a plethora of many more infuriating situations, but I hope this will be sufficient to deter anyone from hiring this person. Run for your lives! (and sanity!).