Mandel Construction

The contractor was NOT qualified to do this job. We hired an architect who highly recommended this person. Unfortunately, the contractor was not fully vetted by the architect, which we did not find out until after the fact . He was doing him a favor as the contractor (referred to as Primary contractor) recently moved back to the Chicago area after 30 years in the Los Angeles area. He claimed he had spent that time building spec. homes in LA. He showed us a presentation on his Laptop of very large beautiful homes & we had no reason to think he couldn't handle a bedroom remodel. We did go on the internet & "Google" him but could find nothing-NO HISTORY. We did get 1 previous estimate & this contractor came in $20,000 less. We wanted a 3rd estimate (as our architect had a previous contractor provide an estimate). Our gut told us not to hire him but we relented based on our architect's recommendation. He turned out to not really be a contractor per se, but acted more like a headhunter who found ANOTHER contractor (referred to as the Secondary Contractor) who provided services including supervision & hiring of all the sub contractors. We repeatedly asked the Primary Contractor to submit a Certificate of INsurance, which was a requirement listed on the Architectural Plans. We waited weeks for it only to find that the Certificate came from the Secondary COntractor. We went back & examined the Building Permit & called the CIty. We found out he was not licensed to work in our city which was why he had to hire the Secondary. The Secondary who was hired was a delight to work with but unfortunately he was taking direction from the Primary & not us. Day by day, it was apparent to us that he was not up to the task. The errors he made were not those that should have been made by someone who had been doing this for 30 years. He made errors reading our architectural plans, did not follow up with subs on a timely basis, waited to the last minute to do things he had been telling us were already done, did not spend enough time in our home; came to look around & left quickly, did not come at the end of each day to look at the work that was done & MOST importantly to make sure the house was broom clean daily, which was one of our requirements from Day One, as we were living in the house the entire time. The first day of a major demolition there was dust everywhere which made my allergies horrible. There were plastic barriers put up but as anyone knows, this construction dust still gets everywhere. We had an alarm system which included motion detectors. The intense pounding of the demolition caused the motion sensors (even though the system was off) to constantly beep as they are supposed to do. The Primary never thought to contact or have us alert the alarm company to remove the sensors. We were going to have to move out of the house while the floors were being refinished. The Primary Contractor had a mover come to the house before the project began to provide an estimate to move all our furniture into our garage & move it back in after the floors were completed. The mover told the contractor he needed at least a 2 week notice to reserve a date as he was very busy. The Primary Contractor left for 5 days into the 2nd week of the job to go to The Master's Golf Tournament. He knew he was going even before we signed the contract as he later told us he goes every year. He did not tell us he was going until a couple days before he left. Before he left ,we asked him if he made arrangements with the mover (as the floor were being started upon his return) & he assured us he did. The Secondary Contractor "took over" & supervised the job during this time. Upon his return he called us to say the mover couldn't do the job for another 10 days. My husband became extremely angry with him & got him to admit he never called him nor did he ever arrange a date to move the furniture back into the house. In addition, he was repeatedly told that the 50+ year old electric floor outlet in the Living Room had to be cut out, removed & then replaced by the electrician prior to the floors being started. The day before the floors were to be started, we asked him why the outlet had not been replaced. He stated he would do it AFTER the floors were finished. We were astonished that an "experienced" contractor would choose to compromise the quality of a newly refinished floor by doing ANY work in the floor! We informed him that ALL payments & work would stop right then unless the outlet was replaced that same day. Amazingly the work was completed by the end of the day. Before the project began, we told him our only requirement for his flooring contractor was that he had to have both prior experience working with Glitsa Floor finishes and working with Glitsa Black stain as it takes a lot of skill to work with them. Once the floors were completed, we found out that the flooring person had neither of the above requirements. The Primary contractor had the existing doors (that were being reused) along with construction supplies all stored in our Master Bath. We could not get into the bath for several weeks even to take a look around, due to all the things being stored in there. We previously told the contractor that while the workmen could use the toilet in this bath, the toilet area must be inspected daily & kept clean at the end of each day. We even provided a container of Lysol Disinfecting Wipes right next to the toilet. After several weeks we were able to get into the bathroom to see the condition & progress of work. We were appalled to see urine all over the toilet and floor around the toilet. This was the last straw for us & we instructed the architect to terminate him since we used this person upon his recommendation. We had the architect draw up an agreement that included an addendum to the original contract to reflect the date of termination, that the contractor would not seek any legal remedies from either us or the Secondary Contractor nor could he prevent the Secondary Contractor from completing the project . However, we had to pay him his "fee" in order for him to walk away. We were not happy about this but we did not want to incur any legal fees if we refused to pay him. We had budgeted this project for a specific amount & as long as we did not have to incur any additional expenses, decided to cut our losses & move on. The Secondary Contractor then stepped in and finished the work. We could not have been any happier with him. We saw him in action during the time the Primary was out of town & felt comfortable that he was more than up to the task. He was professional, trustworthy & performed as one would expect of an experienced contractor. He guaranteed the work for one year & has since come back several times to take care of items that fell within the guarantee. Not only would we recommend him, we would use him again. The best way we can describe the Primary Contractor was that "the lights were on but no one was home". He was very unemotional, detached & stone-like in his demeanor. Every time we called him on his errors, he showed no remorse, never apologized or accepted responsibility for any of his errors. He just shrugged his shoulders & walked away. However, we ultimately hold the architect responsible for this breach of trust. He was less concerned with performing his due diligence in fully checking out the person he vouched for than doing this person a favor by "throwing a job" his way.