I am answering a complaint filed by this member. I met her last year when she hired someone I know to do a job in her home. He asked me to help him. She was not happy with the work being done and expressed thankfulness for me stepping in to help and complete the job. She then hired me to complete additional work in her home once this first job was completed. She asked that I not have the first man in her home to help as she didn’t like, nor trust him. I have attached the invoices that I gave to her for the jobs she wanted done. They are all dated 3/24/11. Invoices are separated by the rooms in the home. There is also an additional attachment dated 4/20/11 of additional work that she asked me to do as the days went along. There is also invoices that I wrote out at her house for her as additional jobs were requested, such as tearing down a wall in her kitchen and finishing it off, moving cabinets, relocating the refrigerator and repaired floor where wall was removed to match new tiles. I will break down the rooms and work done but want to point out that she picked out all materials and fixtures herself. A few times I met her at Home Depot and Lowes so she could show me what she wanted to put in the home, I made multiple trips to the store which is 10 miles away as she couldn’t decide in one trip. There was no charge for this. Other times she went to the store, picked out flooring tiles, tub, toilets and light fixtures on her own and would call me to let me know which one she wanted. I then picked up the items for her and brought them to her home for installation. The first room we did was the downstairs bathroom. She had picked out stick on tiles for the bathroom floor. I mentioned she should remove the old sub-floor as it was over 30 years old and lay a newer one down. She declined, stating it was fine and she didn’t want to spend too much money. I began the work on 3-25-11. I did notice the adhesive on the back was not as sticky as other tiles I had laid on a subfloor in the past. I mentioned this to her, they were Armstrong tiles and I called the company to see if there was something wrong with the adhesive and they told me they didn’t know about anything defective. I went back to the store where they were bought and one of the sales floor associates opened many boxes and they were all the same consistency. I was told this was fine, I told this to her as she said to put the floor down and we will see. It did come out very nice, however, a week later we noticed the tiles had shifted. Prior to this happening, she was very happy with the floor and asked me to then install a new toilet, which we did after she picked it out. I then caulked around the shower enclosure also, as she had someone replace the shower and they didn’t caulk around the edge and she asked me to complete this. I checked on the floor as I thought the adhesive was not sticky enough to adhere to the old sub floor. The client didn’t want to replace the subfloor and told me to put tiles down. That is what I did. I mentioned all this to her prior to the job being done and she still wanted them put down. I continued to work at the house for another 5 weeks. This was never mentioned after the first week. We then started work on the kitchen. She wanted more self adhesive flooring installed and a new kickboard would be installed at the same time. Again, the floor came out great and she called that night to tell me how pleased she was. She then asked me about opening up the kitchen and I explained if she took the wall down which separated the kitchen and dining room it would make it one big room but the difference in flooring would keep the distinction of the two areas. She said she would do this in 2-3 months. I said if she was going to do that then I would do it now so I can lay the tiles down together and they will match and the flow would be better. She then asked me to take down the wall, which I did. I am able to do this as it is not a structural project; the wall is not load bearing. She called me that night to tell me she loved it and couldn’t believe how much it opened up her home and let the light in. She then asked me about repainting the walls in the kitchen and dining room, another added job. I asked her if she wanted to remove the walls in the dining room as everything was paneling or paint over them. She wanted to leave them as it was cheaper but was worried about the lines in the paneling. I told her I could fill the lines in with wood putting, sand them flat and paint over them, they blend right in, and she agreed but asked if her nephew could fill in the lines for her to save money. I agreed. The nephew took weeks to do a fraction of the work, I explained to her that I was leaving on vacation 5/1/11 and wanted to complete the work before I left as of May my sealcoating season begins and I would not have time to do big interior jobs. She agreed to let me finish what her nephew didn’t. The walls were filled, sanded and painted. When the work was completed she called me that night to tell me how great everything looked. We didn’t do the living room floor, she decided to not take out the existing rug and lay down the Pergo floor, she wanted to do this in the Fall. We then started in on the upstairs bathroom. She said her tub was leaking and she wanted it replaced. You could tell there was a past leak as ceiling tiles were discolored in the living room. We looked at tubs together and her by herself. The opening is only so big, there is only one size that will fit in that opening, I showed her many tubs but she kept saying they were too expensive. She picked out the tub she liked and could afford and called me to let me know which one it was. I then picked it up a few days later. We removed old tub, noticed that the drain was rotted out, replaced it was a plastic one, installed the new tub, and caulked it with silicone. The silicone yellowed after a few days and she called me. I checked it out the next day. It seemed my subcontractor filled it with regular silicone, not a kind for tub and tile it had to be redone, which I did. I replaced it with tub and tile caulking. I didn’t put the green board above the tub and did not charge her for it as it wasn’t completed ($120). It should have been completed by my subcontractor the week I was away on vacation, but she wouldn’t let him the home without me there. He went there to finish and was declined entry. On 5/1/11 I was out of town for a week, which she knew from day one I would be gone for this week. Upon my return I had 16 messages from her stating a leak in the bathroom ruined her ceiling tiles, a chair and her piano. I called the sub-contractor at 10pm who did work with me on the bathroom and asked if he got a call and checked this out. He said she wouldn’t let him in the house to finish the work. I went over the next morning. When I got there I inspected the piano, which seemed to work fine, no water damage was seen. She was telling me it had water stains and couldn’t play correctly. The caretaker to her mother, then walked into the room and said “Oh, I forgot to mention the man came to check out the piano yesterday and he said everything is fine, no damage.” I said “nothing is wrong with it?” and the caretaker said “no, nothing”. I then looked at her dining room chairs which she said had water stains. I did notice they were dirty from years of use and one did have a circular stain about a quarter size in diameter, I asked her if this was the problem and she said yes, so I took the chair to Horrigan’s Cleaners and they cleaned the upholstered seat. This could have been years old, but it made her happy and I returned it to the home a few days later. The ceiling tiles were damaged from the original leak, I was going to replace them after the new tub was put in and the bathroom was completed. She hired an electrician for work to be done in her home and I ran into him, he told me how she was bad mouthing work I had done and was going to sue me. I decided that I would not go to her home after hearing that. I returned the key to the caretaker that day. Electrical is not in any of the invoices, I am not a licensed electrician and cannot perform electrical work. I was to replace a light fixture in the 2nd floor bath as one was already there that she wanted changed. But she mentioned she wanted to have 2 switches on the first floor for a light and a ceiling fan. I told her she had to hire an electrician for this and should have him put the new light fixture in the bathroom at the same time. Whatever the electrician charged her was for work he was there to do outside of putting up a light fixture. Plumbing fixtures were attached to existing plumbing in the home. I did get a quote from a licensed plumber to replace a mixing value; She said it was too expensive. The subcontractor working with me said he knew how to install one and she agreed to let him do this, knowing he is not a licensed plumber. When we were inspecting where she said a leak was happening, we found nothing wrong with the new fixtures, we were replacing the tub as her old tub was leaking and needed to be replaced. I told her if a drain or pipe in the house was leaking she would have to call a licensed plumber for this. I am a handyman. I would like someone to go to her home, this would show you the work that was done and how well it came out. The only thing that was not completed in the home was the 3 pieces of blue board above the bathtub on the second floor. This was to be done when I was on vacation by the subcontractor. The cost of this is $120.00 which was not completed and she was not charged for this. I took deposits for all jobs and the balance was due upon completion of the tasks. The only thing I was paid for and didn’t do was replacing the bathroom light fixture which I told her to have the electrician do as she was starting to complain and I didn’t want to change something electrical at that point. I would reimburse her the price the electrician charged her for replacing that fixture, but will not pay for the work he was hired to do which was run 2 wires down to the first floor and add switches. She called me every morning before she left work (5am) and every night when came home from work (8pm-11pm) to let me know what she wanted done additionally and then to thank me and tell me how well work came out that day. I worked at her home from 3/25/11 to 4/29/11. I put in 3-4 days per week. I did get a phone call from a mediator stating there department was contacted by her. They asked me if I would resolve this with her and I agreed. I asked to set up a time when we could all get together. He then called me back and said she was not willing to do this. I then received a letter from your company in the mail a few weeks later. I would have been happy to contact the electrician to get the exact price of what it cost to replace a light fixture, but I am now done. I have gone over to help, fixed anything that she complained about and tried to go to mediation to resolve this. She has refused. There is nothing more for me to do. Sincerely, Jacques Archambault
