CREATIVE CONSTRUCTION

Ron Guertin seemed very friendly and personable and sounded like he knew about construction. Shame on me--I should have asked for references. I should have been suspicious when he asked if he could use me as a reference before the work had even started--I received a call for a reference one week after I hired him, before any work was done! We had a very detailed contract which provided a set price for all materials and work. The work was not done on time (he's a contractor, so I was not surprised at this) or to the exact specifications (The room measurements were about 16% smaller than promised, but I also accepted this). When the work was done and I still owed him one-third of the agreed price, he presented me with a bill that was far in excess of what I owed and seemed surprised that I would not pay the new amount. He annoyed me for weeks as he tried many tactics to get the extra amount. He had all sorts of reasons why I should pay thousands extra including that his plumber and electrician raised their price. Well I told him that was his problem-not mine! We had a contract! I paid him every dollar that I was supposed to. Within a few months I started to have problems with the plumbing. I called and left a message for him, but he did not return my call so I had to call a plumber to fix the problems because time was of the essence on this emergency. It turned out to be faulty installation. There were other problems, such as a buckling floor which was installed in a small room. On the plus side, the finished work LOOKS attractive and the rooms are very useful.

The short story: I terminated the contract. Why? The contractor made too many mistakes to go into in this space. I hired on "T&M" (Time & Materials) and the contractor was unable to provide definite timeline and cost estimate to completetion. He hired a subcontractor to come in to work while he went to other jobs. All the signs were there, but in my inexperience, I did not know them to see them. The contractor would say anything he needed to get his dumpster in my front yard and get to demo in the basement. Once he got that started the games began. My lesson is to get a firm price for a defined job. Funny I was watching 20/20 and confirmed the lesson I had learned with "creative" construction. On the plus side, I used his sub-contractors to finish (with his permission) and they did a much better job.