C & C CONSTRUCTION CO

This review is for Corey Sample (dba C & C Maintenance
and Repair or possibly C & C Construction), 6604 E. St. Charles Road,
Columbia, MO 65202-3010, 573-881-8999 (cell), 573-474-5438 (home), married to
Connie Sample. He was recommended by a Steve from ResinWorks (who was at my
home repairing a foundation crack and who said he had worked with him in the
past) when I asked him if he knew of someone that was good at drywall repair
and possibly to build a small deck and a set of stairs. I emailed Corey explaining
what I needed done and that I was in a huge hurry trying to get work done so as
to get the house sold this fall. He called back saying he would be interested
and would work for the rate of $25 per hour with $20 per hour for a helper. He
did not at this time tell me what a huge weeny he is about working outdoors in
colder weather.  He explained that the
nature of the work would mean he would have to be back and forth for short
stints as drywall is all about mudding, drying and then sanding which I knew
already so I said fine. He came on Sunday Nov. 10th and worked 5 hours getting
a good part of the work done. I was impressed with the speed at which he worked
but very distressed at the lack of care he took with working over brand new
wood floors. He had come to my house to do drywall work but had not even
brought a tarp. I paid him $125 that day for his five hours of work. I was made
so nervous about his carelessness about my floor that I got up at three o'clock
the next morning and taped down paper and plastic covering the entire wood
floor as thoroughly as possible knowing he was to return that day at 8 AM and
continue. He did not show up at 8 even call. I finally called him at 10 and he
said he would be about an hour. I asked him to reschedule as I had things to do.
He did not return till Wednesday Nov. 13th when he brought a helper named Jerry
with him. Jerry was set to work installing drywall in a stair landing area and
didn't work very fast or seem very adept at cutting the sheets to size. I
wondered if Corey had taken him on out of pity like he was a mentally
handicapped person. He was that obviously not professional. He talked a lot too
wasting time and my money. That day Corey worked 2 hours and Jerry worked 1 1/2
hours then left. On this day Jerry did a substantial amount of stepping into
and tracking of mud on my carpet although I had provided a sheet of heavy
plastic to be used as a drop cloth. On the 14th Jerry worked 3/4 hour and Corey
talked with me about deck plans. I showed him what I had drawn up as a guide to
help him visualize what I wanted. He seemed to be right on track with it and
asked for $700 up front to start. I wrote him a check that day. The next time I
saw him was Saturday the 16th when he stopped by to drop off 12 4x4's and 2
bags of concrete. Jerry came Monday the 18th for 1 3/4 hour of drywall
sanding but said he had to pick up his kid at school and that his sanding
pad wore out so he left without finishing. I didn't see either of them till
Friday the 22nd when Corey worked 3 1/2 hours and Jerry 2 1/4 hours setting
posts. The posts were laid out without regard for being straight to the house
or each other. The spacing is inaccurate. None of the holes are as much as 2
feet deep. Most are 18" or 19" which I can tell because they are 8'
long and I can measure the length sticking out of the ground. It was that day I
decided I needed to be out there at all times they were there in order to
correct them as they went along. I did not realize the posts needed to be
deeper by code as the structure was self supporting but was told today that
they need to be more like 32" in the ground and that he should have pulled
a permit and the city needed to come measure the hole depths. The concrete he
put in the holes was put in as he went instead of squaring the posts to each
other and bracing them first. The concrete was poured in dry and then some
water put in the hole. I don't think he used more than half a bag of dry mix concrete
per hole. He came back Sunday Nov. 24th and worked 2 1/2 hours building the
intermediate platform (the project was to have been two sets of stairs with
this platform) cutting and laying in the decking boards (mostly cup side up
which is not right I hear). Monday the 25th Corey came and worked a whopping 3
3/4 hours on the first of the two sets of stairs. He was laying out and cutting
the stair stringers. The first 2 x 12 board he cut all wrong and threw that one
back into his truck. Then we spent a lot of time discussing how to
lay out the stringers. He was not taking into account the thickness of the
tread material and the last rise would have been less than it should have been
and the first rise would have been higher than it should have been. His corners
were also not parallel with the edge of the board. He kept telling me about his
years of experience and I kept wondering how he could be making all these
errors if that were true. Anyway that was the last day he worked. He was to
have been here the next day and when he failed to show up or even call I
emailed him asking him for the return of my money and that he was fired. I
haven?t heard from him since. I just had two other companies look at the job
today to see what it would take to finish it and they both wanted to take out
what he had done (to begin with there was the issue of the posts not being
code).
 
I explained to this man at the beginning that I had had a long
period of unemployment and a very hard time these last few years and that I was
on a tight schedule to get work completed and my house on the market with a
loan from a relative. He came on with endless stories and comments about how
religious he is and how important it is to him to lead a moral life and how his
best friend is his church pastor. Despite both of these things he had no
problem with ripping me off in both time and money both of which are in short
supply for me.