Guy Hendricks Stone Design & Masonry

In mid-February, we hired Hendricks to rebuild a dry-fit stone wall along the road frontage of our property. The total job was contracted at $14,750, with $4,350 allocated to material and $10,400 allocated to labor. We paid a deposit of $6,000 upon signing the contract. Work wasn't begun until mid-April, ostensibly because of wintery weather. In April, Hendricks and his crew of one dismantled half of an existing stone wall, stacked the stones, and installed PVC pipes at intervals to ultimately accept a picket fence topper to be built on top of the new stone wall. He had to borrow our wheelbarrow, as he didn’t bring one of his own. No foundation trench was dug, because Hendricks claimed that the ground at the site was rock-hard, making a traditional foundation trench unnecessary. We had asked Hendricks to consult with the company that was to supply the fence topper regarding specifications for the PVC pipe sleeves, but he installed 3" OD sleeves supported by rebar without consulting them. Then, all work halted. All through May, we called Hendricks almost daily to ask when he was going to continue with his work. He offered one excuse after another (sick father, personal matters that needed his attention, even the theft of cash that he had left on a palette of stones at his home to cover the cost of its delivery to our house). Just before the Memorial Day weekend, we called to give him an ultimatum: either he begins work the next day and makes measurable progress on our project, or he is fired. He protested that he couldn't work under such pressure, so we compromised by agreeing that all stone needed for our project would be delivered before the holiday weekend, and that he would begin building the wall immediately thereafter. We asked that the palettes of stone be staged on the front lawn near where the wall was to be rebuilt, and that he personally supervise the delivery. When 7 palettes of stone were delivered the next day while we were at work, they were instead dropped along the shoulder of the road, creating a traffic hazard and impeding our view of oncoming vehicles when we tried to pull out of our driveway. These 7 palettes remained there for 5 weeks. Hendricks never showed up again, but when we called to fire him, he threatened us with "You'll be sorry." Supposedly, he meant that we wouldn't find another mason who could do the job as well as he could, but we weren't sure. We mailed a letter confirming termination of the contract by Certified Mail / Return Receipt to his P.O. box, but it was returned as unclaimed. We re-sent it to his street address by Express Mail with Return Receipt, and he signed for it. We demanded a refund of $1,650, representing the difference between our $6,000 deposit and the $4,350 listed on the contract as material cost. When no response nor refund was forthcoming, we sent a second letter, with a photo of the 18" trench dug along the stone wall by the mason that we hired to finish the job . . . a trench in the exact spot where Hendricks claimed that none could be dug. We also documented that his 3" OD solid PVC pipes were too small to adequately serve as fence post sleeves, which meant that we had to remove and replace them with proper 4" OD perforated PVC pipes. In other words, the little work that Hendricks performed on our project was sub-standard, through and through. Everything had to be redone, and at considerable expense to us. We have since learned that Guy Hendricks' Connecticut home improvement contractors license expired in November 2009, and is currently listed as "inactive."