ACS CONSTRUCTION COMPANY

God, I was stupid! I got this guy (ACS Construction; seems to be a one man operation) through an ad. I expected minor repairs and was surprised to find an estimate of $1400, but as the wood rot was more profound than expected, I accepted it. I scheduled the repair specifically when I would have someone else who could be home, as my workplace is understaffed and I could take no more time off this year. On the first day, Sam arrived at 11:15 (he said he would be there at 8:30) appraised the damage and gave the estimate. I accepted the estimate and he said he would make the pieces in his shop the next day and do the job the day after. Well, he apparently did nothing the next day because the day after he showed up said he had lost the measurements, remeasured and did nothing else. The next day he came and basically puttered and did very little, not even starting on the door frame. While not happy with the results, I gave him the benefit of the doubt the thought he was just slow. My mom, who was visiting, said she thought he acted like he was on drugs. Who knows, maybe my elderly mother was right. The next day he was supposed to be there first thing in the morning, he called about 11:00 AM and said it was too cold to work (it was 50 degrees and it was November so things became colder, not warmer). When I told him that my visitor would be gone and that I had to work, he said, "No problem, I can work around your schedule." When I pointed out, that it gets dark early in November, he said, "No problem, I can work with lights". I was able to get off work early though it meant coming back late at night or on the weekends to finish my work. Every day we arranged a meeting time. Every day, Sam showed up 1-2 hours late, spent a lot of time slowly unpacking, some time doing very little work then a lot of time repacking. On two of the days, he said he would come when I was gone to work on the outside of the door. He showed up neither time. Finally, I gave an ultimatum, finish the door frame the next day (he had agreed to come on that Saturday) or I'll get someone else to do it. He did finish the frame, but somehow he stretched it to over 12 hours. He then told me he could do the outside in about 2 hours the next week when I wasn't there. I stressed two hours. He agreed. I told him not to replace the old piece of wood over the door and the piece over the outside window (which had been part of the original estimate). I had decided to wait and hire someone else in the spring. He came on Tuesday, charged me for about 4 1/2 hours and seemed to have done little. I told him he would get paid if he finished the job the next day. He said he'd be there first thing in the morning. I came by about 11:00 AM, he wasn't there and saw that the piece of wood over my door had been broken off raggedly (I hadn't seen it in the dark the night before). I fired him. I was a sucker. It cost me $2400 for a $1400 and had to hire someone else to finish the job.