EVANS GENERAL CONTRACTOR

This was a 203K federal project a major repair job of a two family home which I bought in Nov 2010. The project was bid on by multiple contractors, Angelo Sterianos the Owner of the Company won the bid. Angelo was eager to be part of the project.. He described himself as an honest, trustworthy man, a licensed contractor and licensed minister. He lives in the same city as I do and told me to ask around, said he lived next to the Mayor ,everyone who knew him, could vouch for him. His references said he was honest but the bank explained to me they'd been made aware he'd had trouble finishing work according to other clients and he would not answer phone calls once things did start going wrong. He blamed the client and his subcontractors in those cases. However, this type of 203K project requires a federal inspection and I'd gotten positive feedback about Angelo from the federally contracted inspector, who had done projects with Angelo before and had Angelo's name on their website. Once we began the project, in Nov 2011, he said he planned to finish within 6-8 weeks, could do the project differently than the contract was written bc he could get by for less on multiple items/jobs and then put that money into the finished basement, which was to be partially ripped out to accommodate the new heating system. He repeatedly told me he was keeping an eye on how it was going overall specifically the basement, and he would restore everything, making it "even better than before, quite a pretty space," when he was through with other projects within the house. Angelo offered to do all the purchases himself, said to me that he'd been doing this for years and he knew exactly what to get, how to do this. He did all the purchases himself. He jumped right into project. However, the time dragged on, projects went unfinished, problems popped up with many projects he did do recurrent sink leaks in several sinks which destroyed items near the leaks, a vent in the shower which, causing electricity/water hazard kept falling out of the casing etc etc etc) in the and he would not return my calls. Sub contractors came calling, asking me, for their money. Angelo needed multiple breaks - for; a religious retreat with his family, he had to have elective surgery, his workers left to return to their homelands, then he got into a car accident in which he broke both his arm and leg. He also left for an extended period of time to help the victims of the Hurricane in Brimfield and as my family was significantly impacted by this I fully supoorted him in being so altruistic with his time and efforts. I did however, ask he spend at least one day a week finishing my project, as it was now AUGUST and the project- a 6-8 wk job was going into it's 9th month.He agreed with the idea to give me one day, scheduled the day, but never showed up, would not return my calls. This type of dispersement, requires the federally contracted inspector see each stage of the project before the check is cut. I felt compelled to sign over each check to Angelo despite repeatedly expressing my concerns about the items left undone. Each time Angelo would tell me he was a trustworthy person and would never leave a project undone. I repeatedly asked where the federal inspector was, and Angelo assured me, he would NEVER leave me in the lurch, planned to finish it all as beautifully as he'd explained, but needed the money right away. But Angelo was telling me he could not move forward, finish the project without the checks. I also has sub contractors coming to my door with their families(!) crying (literally) at my door asking to be paid, saying they were not getting their money. I paid an additional $2500.00 to paint the interior. The painters who'd done a wonderful job, came repeatedly saying they had not been paid by Angelo. I paid $500 extra for two floors to be done and they came out hideously poorly, with bubbling, obvious spillage of extra polyurethane in both rooms, a fact I pointed out to Angelo. He said he was already aware of that, had told his man to fix it. This never happened. I paid $1600 to the gas co which was supposed to have been included in the disbursement checks. Angelo repeatedly stated he had used my personal checks/money for something else and needed me to sign over yet another check so he could pay his contractors. Meanwhile the job was not getting done, but I felt so badly for the sub contractors and I trusted Angelo, so I signed over all the checks. He thanked me profusely, then did not respond to my repeated calls except for a few appts he scheduled, but he never kept. The heating system, brand new, was not working properly. One of the smaller, but finer items in the house when I bought it, was a brand new computerized thermostat with timers, clock etc- Angelo replaced it, thinking there was something amiss with it, when the brand new heat would not work.. Installed a much cheaper one, then did not return the better quality one when he realized there were crossed wires in the basement, preventing the heating issue being straightened out- he promised to return the original unit but never did. He'd promised an entire cleaning of all the vents when he installed the new heating system- that never took place. I moved into the house in January- freezing cold weather and despite the brand new heating system, there was no heat. I have a chronic illness and this made me quite ill for several days. Angelo was to install a bath fitter- or tub surround unit but instead, put two pieces of plastic up on the bathroom walls bc he said he could not fit a regular bath-fitter in the spot. These pieces of plastic have been peeling off the walls since it was installed and has now presumably got mold in it as my family still needs showers everyday, and there is now a new odor to my bathroom since this installation. He has come to fix it multiple times and now again, tells me he "is not my repairman" so he can no longer fix the obviously poorly installed piece of eqt. . The old yellow stained bathtub remains, and he never installed the original items set forth in the contract. The mess of nails, wood, shingles, junk in my yard outside was a hazard to everyone in the house and still, a clean up did not take place for many months, despite repeated calls. It is over a full year later and he has not returned to fix the work which is left undone. The basement is a mess. The recessed kitchen lighting flickers whenever the lights are turned low.This has been true since he installed them. Also, he installed a drop ceiling in my kitchen, despite it being very specifically written that he should install a raised ceiling, making my small kitchen very hot.. The sink upstairs leaked into my brand new ceiling, my kitchen cabinets, onto countertops, flooring, Angelo told me he was not a repairman. with water pouring into my kitchen cabinets, the kitchen ceiling, all over the lino on the kitchen floor. This was the 2nd time the exact same (brand ew sink, pipes) had leaked this way. Angelo fixed it the first time himself- rather than have the plumber look at what went wrong. With the second leak in the exact same NEW SINK and PIPING, he refused to come or even send anyone else (he could not come himself bc this time he'd had a car accident in which he'd broken his arm and leg) when this happened again in exact same spot, just a few months later. I was once again required to pay for the unprofessional work he'd done. So he essentially could not backup the work he did - not even for several months. I have been forced to hire other contractors to fix those exact same spots Angelo had trouble with, things which went wrong with Angelo, rather than Angelo doing the job well from the beginning, or in the face of inevitable complication, failed to recognize his responsibility to fix projects he'd done which developed problems. The oil tank was still in the basement, 6 months longer than legally allowed by law. When he did finally remove it, after multiple calls from me, he had to demo the doorframe but promised he would re-install the door immediately. That too remains undone. - As regards the safety of the stairs in the back hallway, despite repeatedly telling me he would install safety handrails into the steps, he never did. I had, once again, to hire outside contractor to ensure the safe use of these stairs. He installed fine strong solid wooden doors in the back of the house, but he lost the keys so he later came back with very cheaply made newer doorknobs/ locks. Angelo installed wobbling uneven, unpainted steps and handrails outside the house, despite promising me a "beautiful new small deck/platform to the rebuilt back yard stairs ." The entire foundation where he did the bulk of the work in support beams has been left open, exposed so that several animals have nested there now. My basement has metal crosspieces sticking out of it- the ceiling left gaping open mess which he told me he now has no intention whatsoever of fixing. There is no venting system around the brand new heater and hot water tanks as he explained was required. His terrible work, missed work, walking away with all the project money and unfinished jobs remaining, not paying his contractors far beyond the time constraints inherent in a 203k project warrant, shows a complete lack of respect for me and his workers. I called Angelo, the feds and city hall permit office multiple times re these flagrant blunders, to no avail. I am a single woman with a young child without many resources, nor the help to keep on trying to fix Angelo's mistakes. I have tried repeatedly to speak calmly and directly with Angelo, but he accepts no responsibility for the mess he has put us into. I think there needs to be better supervision of the work contractors do- especially when that contractor misrepresents himself, takes advantage of single mothers and children, the federal government.

9/8/11 update: // Originally scheduled for a 6/6/11 start, then bumped back a week, then three more days, this project is beyond overdue and we're still not sure when it will be complete. I'm going to post photos of everything and a detailed report on time lines and issues we've had--as well as the positives. So far, we have had serious issues with quality, schedule, trust, cleanliness, and communication. I'll see how they finish before giving a final verdict. Score could go up or down from here. Previous remarks: *Will provide an update on timeliness, quality and other categories as our renovation moves forward. Also, looks like this company is listed under 2 addresses on Angie's List.