VITCAR CONSULTING CO INC

The project was to renovate an existing house & add a master bedroom suite.

Work began in February 2015 and Vitcar Consulting the general contractor, estimated it would take about 6 months to finish. Each month Vitcar would send a bill for the work done the previous month & we would pay it within days. We spend summers in Dubuque, Iowa leaving mid-May & returning mid-October. Upon our return in Mid-October we moved into our house with over 50 unfinished items. Vitcar submitted a final bill showing all work finished. I offered to pay the final bill when all the work was actually finished not before.

When little progress was being made on finishing the work I offered a settlement on November 15th, 2015, to resolve all our monetary claims made against each other:

$40,000 to complete work according to blueprints. $20,000 upon signing and $20,000 upon completion.

Part of the agreement was the list of unfinished items as well as intent to have finished home compared to blueprint, per Architect.  Vitcar said $40,000 was not enough and asked for $50,000 & I agreed. Mr & Mrs Polera & I signed the agreement. I wrote a check for $30,000 with $20,000 due upon completion & walk through by Architect.

By mid February 90% of the listed work had still not been done.  It is now Mid-May, 6 months after our settlement agreement was signed, and there is still unfinished work to be done, the most serious being raised floor tile in kitchen & master bath, a damaged section of the driveway, A tub filler that bangs when turned off, A 90 second wait for hot water from the faucet, Double closet doors have hole drilled for handles but no handles, Defective Bidet replaced but not installed. 

In addition to the unfinished work, the workmanship was bad.  The ceiling of the outdoor back porch and the entry had to be re-stuccoed and repainted.  The ceilings had mismatched paint.  The interior doors had to be refinished.  The cabinets had plastic instead of glass until December.  The floors were covered with paint and stain and needed to be acid washed, not completed for 6 months.  There were no screens on the windows or doors for several months.  Doors were mixed up and placed in the wrong rooms.  Toilets were placed in the wrong bathrooms. 

Also the plan called for a central vacuum system, security system, & telephone jacks.  All never installed.

Vitcar stated that all subs have been paid, so we do not understand why they haven’t finished  the work.  A 6 month project has become a 16 ½ month project with work still to be done.  I would have guessed that Vitcar would have somebody come to the house once a week or two or three times a month to check on progress by subs. Vitcar Consulting has not come to the house to view the unfinished work since November 2015.  We have contacted Vitcar on numerous occasions to ask that the work be completed.