Petra Contractors

One of my contractors used Petra Contractors to help complete a job earlier this year for one of my clients. Petra sent me an invoice when the project was completed and we notified them that we were not responsible for payment and gave them the contact information for the owner to collect payment. They never contacted the owner and 6 months later, I was served! They are suing me for the outstanding balance. I only received one invoice, over 6 months ago. They never tried to call me back to let me know the invoice was outstanding. We've done business with them before so they have all of our contact information. I called and spoke with the owner, Nancy, and explained that we're happy to help coordinate payment, but I want to understand why they didn't call me? My reputation is super important to me and a lawsuit is public record. Instead of answering my question, she started yelling at me about all they care about is getting paid for their services and not my reputation. This is not a company that I will ever do business with again. :(

I am very pleased with the repairs done by Petra Contractors. We had a hole in our roof that we didn’t know about until the ceiling started to fall down during a rainstorm. We called several contractors, and Petra was the best. Petra listened to our concerns with patience, clearly answered all of our questions, and handled the mold mitigation and all of the ceiling and structural repairs with expertise and professionalism. Their workers were respectful and polite (especially to my special-needs son). I would recommend Petra to everyone who needs home restoration and repair. Petra Contractors, Inc. is A+++.

They were responsive, helpful and did the work at a fair price. Some issues with permits, but they stayed on the case and resolved as necessary.

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I called Petra Contracting late in the afternoon after the fire.Less than 90 minutes later someone was on site boarding up and weather-proofing the damaged area. When he was done, the ugly hole had been neatly secured and weather-proofed. Every professional (i.e., building inspector, insurance adjuster, tradespeople) have commented on how neat and effective the job had been done.

Demolition was not begun until nearly 2 months after the fire.  I met with the contractor in January and discussed plans; he said
he would have his designer "work up a few designs," and then sent me one design that was not what we had discussed (with a corner sink in one corner and a lazy susan in the other); when I asked about it he said that I couldn't have both because "it would not work." 
I went to home depot and with their designer worked up a plan that included both options and worked.
Petra installed new copper pipes in the house but failed to secure the house.  The pipes were stolen.  Petra replaced them with PVC
pipes, which I did not and do not want. After the theft, I had an alarm system installed in the house, which prompted an electrical inspection. The job was shut down by the inspectors as Petra had failed to pull the necessary permits, further delaying the job.
Workers frequently left my house open and unlocked - door all the way open - while they left the property for lunch or whatever.  They smoked in my house and left cigarette butts around the property.  They left demolition debris in my back yard (no dumpster) for 4 months.  They used my toilet even though the water had been turned off and there was a porta potty in the back yard, leaving waste in the toilet because it would not flush.  I moved my rescue cats into the house while work was supposedly nearly finished, informed
Petra of this fact and asked them to make sure their workers were careful about keeping exterior doors closed.  Twice a cat got out into the hot summer weather with no access to food and water due to Petra?s workers? carelessness.
The original estimated move in day was end of February/early March.  I purchased and scheduled delivery of appliances in accordance with that date. 
Petra?s workers would show up, work for an hour or 2, then leave and not show up again for days or weeks. My neighbors can attest to this.  They frequently, and loudly, used foul language outside in a residential neighborhood where small children live.  I was told by their "project manager" (whom I only saw on site once, when I met him in late winter/early spring) that they were going to try to get me back into my house by 30 April.  He later said that the house would be ready for move-in the third week in June, so I scheduled delivery of my household items (which were over their time limit at the storage facility).  The house was in no way ready for occupation.  Nobody from Petra showed up that week, or the next, to do any work and nobody told me why they said it was ok to schedule a move when the house was so obviously unready for occupation. 
I finally moved back home, though the work is still not complete, on 10 august.
When I contacted my insurance adjuster and agent about the repeated delays, they told me Petra said that delay was due to changes that I had made in the scope of the work - however, the kitchen could not have been redone in its original configuration because it would have been against the building code - the original gas stove was installed below a window.  So changes needed to be made, and the contractor was aware of this and actually suggested some of the changes.
The contractor had the layout design in February and few changes were made; at his suggestion, we had new hardwood floors matched into the dining room flooring rather than using the prefinished flooring I had requested, and I had the painters paint the trim rather than leave it unpainted per the original agreement.  I paid the painters separately for this.
Appliances that were purchased and scheduled for delivery had to have deliveries rescheduled and once delivered left uninstalled because the contractors were not ready to accommodate the appliances.  Petra was notified well in advance of expected appliance delivery.  Even though they had the layout and knew exactly which cabinets I purchased and all their dimensions, and they knew I wanted a ceiling fan in the kitchen, the lighting wiring was done in such a way that the fan blows directly onto the stove?s burners and that I can?t use 3 cabinets while the fan is in operation.  If it had been installed 1 yard over these problems would not exist.  I was not asked where I wanted the ceiling fan to be located.
Petra?s workers installed the appliances (without my authorization in the case of gas dryer; I requested a quote which I never received); the fridge did not dispense water and the dryer drum was not turning, which meant that I have to waste yet another vacation day waiting for the manufacturers' repair people.   The manufacturer?s repair person fixed the problems. 
Petra has received partial payment, and I would like to pay them the balance and get them out of my house and my life, but nobody - neither my lawyer, my banker, me nor anyone else I?ve shown it to, can make out what the balance owed is or should be.  And Petra has been unable or unwilling to explain it to me.
Instead of an estimate with costs broken out for each element of repair, they gave me a list of "credits" - things that they weren't going to do - and "extras" - things not included in the estimate.  There were no dates for completion of any necessary repairs, and there was no job completion date.  Their list was inaccurate, but I can't get Petra to agree to what the credits and extras should be - I put them all into spreadsheets, using their documentation and mine, along with a punch list of items that need to be taken care of.  I have yet to receive a response to this, which I have sent to Petra's office staff and to the "project managers."
As of yesterday, Petra says they will be sending someone on Saturday, 13 September, to work on some of the punch list items, but will  not be able to fix everything because they need authorization to do so from my insurance adjuster, who is unavailable at present.