Linwoodspaintingandconstruction

In 10 years of working with various contractors on many different jobs, this was one of my most irritating experiences with a contractor. This contractor makes the rules as he goes and if you don't agree, he will just threaten to put a lien on your property and sue you. The job started with me paying $12,000 for work to begin (contract payments were split into thirds which is standard). I had no issues with down payment. The trouble started when one week into the job, I received an invoice for items not covered under the contract to the tune of almost $4,000. While I do budget for some overages, and I understand that sometimes unanticipated issues arise during a renovation project, this invoice was extremely inflated with labor, and even included a $3 line item for saw blades. Again, I understand that things come up, but $3 for saw blades? Really? I paid the invoice in an effort to keep things moving as this was a significant renovation. I explained to the contractor that in week 1, my budget had already been blown by 10% and that there was no more money left in my contingency fund for additional "incidents" and that I would need for him to stay on track and let me know about anything that came up. During my first inspection of the job, I noticed that work that was contracted had not been completed. The scope of work for the plumber had been changed without my knowledge and the work requested had not been completed. I also noticed that the materials that I requested had not been used. When asking the contractor about the changes, he stated that the plumbing was in good shape and didn't need the full overhaul that I had asked for. I inquired about a discount in the plumbing costs since the work completed was far less than requested. It was at this time that I was told that I would get a credit of $500. Considering the cost of the plumbing was almost $10,000 and the work completed was about 2/3 of the work requested, I found a credit of $500 to be very low. I made an error in not challenging the contractor about the credit but again, I wanted to keep the project moving. When electrical started to take place the contractor reached out to me to ask me to supply some of the fixtures. I told the contractor that the fixtures were supposed to be supplied by the electrician as part of the contract. I then reminded him of the very lengthy scope of work that I had sent him prior to the start of the job. The contractor said that the scope of work was not what he included in the contract and that I would need to pay for the fixtures. At this point I said, "I sent you the scope of work so that you could use it to bid the job, I am confused as to why you wouldn't bid everything on the scope of work if I told you that is everything I wanted to have done". The contractor said that he hadn't even reviewed the scope of work when he put his bid together! WHAT! This is where things really started to go downhill. To get past this incident the contractor said "I'll just use the $500 credit that I was going to give you for plumbing to purchase the electrical fixtures". In my mind I'm thinking, "did this guy seriously just try to be a hero and offer to use my money to pay for the fixtures that were supposed to be included in the job? Yeah, he did. So I guess either way, I'm paying". I expressed my frustration with the situation but the contractor assured me that this would be the last thing to come up and that we need to just keep moving forward. I agreed for the sake of the job to keep things going. Before the install of flooring I asked the contractor to install the kitchen cabinets. I knew that the cabinets would need to be shimmed because of the age of the building, the floor is un-level. The contractor told me that it was not necessary to install cabinets before flooring and that he never installs a kitchen this way. I trusted that he knew what he was doing and allowed the flooring to be installed before the cabinets. During the installation of my brand new kitchen, I was called by the contractor who told me that 2 of my new cabinets arrived damaged. The contractor said that he could repair one of the cabinets as the damage was in the back and that he could cover up the damage on the other cabinet with a piece of baseboard. A few things went through my mind at this point. 1. How much "extra" is it going to cost me for him to spend 10mins repairing the cabinet? 2. These are brand new cabinets, why aren't we just exchanging them for un-damaged cabinets? 3. I don't want a piece of baseboard slapped onto the side of my cabinet. So at this time I told the contractor that I would pick the cabinets up and return them for undamaged replacements. I was not available to exchange the cabinets myself so I asked a member of my family to do it for me. Upon arrival this family member told me that one of the damaged cabinets had been repaired and was installed. The other cabinet was still there and could be exchanged. I was concerned that I had specifically told the contractor not to repair the cabinets because I would be exchanging them but he did so anyway. I had the other damaged cabinet exchanged so that the job could continue. Upon arrival to do the final inspection of this project, I immediately noticed that my cabinets had baseboard nailed into the side of them. I very clearly had told the contractor that I did not want baseboard nailed into the side of my brand new cabinets. Especially since the baseboard is white and the cabinets are ivory! Next, I noticed that my brand new stove had been installed on blocks to bring it up to the height of the countertop. Why would the stove need to be installed on 3/4" blocks? Because the contractor installed the cabinets at bar height instead of counter height! As I expected, the cabinets required shimming to offset the un-level floor. This issue would have never been an issue if the cabinets were installed before the flooring like I asked. Cabinet pulls had been installed crooked, cabinets were not level, and the matching toe kick for the cabinets had been omitted to use white baseboard all the way around the front and sides of the cabinets. I also noticed that my baseboards in the entire unit had not been installed the way I asked. I specifically asked for a trim to be used around the baseboard to cover any gaps between baseboard and floor, but instead the baseboard had been improperly scribed and still showed many gaps around each room. I spent more money to purchase wide moldings but after being scribed my 5 inch baseboard was cut down to 3 inches in some areas. The finish work was completed at a level I would expect from the workers who stand outside of home depot looking for work by the day, not at the level of a contractor charging me more than $40,000 (not including materials) for an apartment remodel! When I brought all of my concerns to the attention of the contractor, he LAUGHED! The contractor said that he was complete with the job and expected payment immediately. When I brought to his attention that the kitchen was installed improperly and that the stove should not be placed on "blocks" to be at counter height, he said that it was fine and that he wouldn't re-do it. I told the contractor that I would need to have someone else look at the job if he wasn't willing to complete it properly and that I would need to consider the costs of someone else completing the job before I would pay his final payment. At this point the contractor removed all of his belongings, and immediately said he was going to sue me. I received paperwork from his attorney a few days later. After going back and forth between attorneys, we finally agreed on a final payment and a release for both of us to walk away from the job without being able to sue the other for anything additional. I thought it was over..... until I received a demand 2 weeks after the release was signed for "leftover materials" to be returned to the contractor! I thought that the purpose of the release was to walk away and move on in separate directions but this guy, was now telling me he would sue me if I didn't let him come by and pick up 3 sheets of drywall (worth about $50) that was supposedly left over from the job! Needless to say, this is still ongoing and that is why I am sharing this review. This guys may have gotten $40k out of me but he doesn't have to get it out of you.