R L Edwards General Contractors

From the beginning, communication with Rick was difficult. He rarely returned calls or texts and when he did, it was almost impossible to get a word in edgewise. We had to be out of our rental by the end of May and he said he would be done with the new house by end of April so that we could have some time in between. He was still not finished when we moved in on May 15th. Nor, actually did he EVER finish.

The previous owner had 6 dogs and the first couple of times we took our (very well trained) dogs into the house, they would have accidents. As a result, we kept them outside while we looked at the work done at any given time, knowing that once Rick & his crew were done, we were going to have the house and carpets cleaned and sanitized. One day we came over unannounced and found that they had a small chihauhau there that peed with excitement -- constantly. First, We were not asked if they could have a dog in our house, and second, Rick KNEW we had an issue with our OWN dogs.

Another time we came over, again unannounced, and Rick was smoking in our master bathroom. He looked at me and said "Yeah, I know I'm smoking in your house." And I replied that I'd noticed. His follow-on was that he didn't even smoke in his OWN house. Hmmm.But he had no problem smoking in MINE.

As far as workmanship, he and his team installed the windows but did not frame them or caulk them. Half of the vapor barrier and one rail were installed. The shower was tiled but the grout job looked like a DIY weekend job and my riverrock floor was SO overgrouted you can hardly see or feel the rock. What a waste of money. The shower ceiling and floor were never sealed, either. As far as we know, none of the tile has been sealed.

The plumbing was left 1/2 done and none of the bathroom was functional. The bathroom vent is vented to the attic, not outside. They did not install the bathtub or toilet. They did a good job on retro-fitting the art deco dresser and what electrical and plumbing they did seems to be okay. The light bar and sconces were installed and functional. Wiring for the chandelier was done, though I told Rick repeatedly that I wanted it on a dimmer, he never put a dimmer there (he rarely seemed to hear anything I said). The house is a 1970s house that was mostly plumbed and wired (so we're told) by the previous owner and her husband so there were challenges, to be sure. The chimney wasn't cleaned or flashed, none of the certifications were completed, the dryer was never vented outside, and the weather-stripping on the doors was never completed.

They did repair the woodpecker holes, install 1/2 of the vapor barrier, the GFIs and Fire and CM alarms.

Rick always had an excuse for delays. As one example, he said that he was delayed in tiling the bathroom because the tile store didn't have the tile. I confirmed with the tile store that all of the tile ordered was stock. All that had to be picked up from another store was some bull nose. Rick's hummer broke down and he couldn't carry a full load of tile in the trunk of his mother-in-laws trunk so he had to take many small trips. He could have paid $150 to have it delivered but preferred to blame them. There are WAY too many to list here.

To put the period on our relationship, he left a good bit of his garbage and cigarette butts littering our property.

Rick left the job on May 18th and only came back to pick up his tools. The work is about 35% complete, he has 1/2 the money and still refuses to return phone calls or text messages, nor provide a proper (acceptable to the bank) invoice for all work performed, including the justification for the >$15K he received upon closing, or lien release. As a result, we have had to go 'self help' and locate trade specialists to finish the job.

Please choose with care. I wouldn't recommend this guy to my worst enemy. I strongly suggest you run away from this guy -- FAST