Cross Creek Renovations

How did it go Angie's List asks? Ridiculously horrible is how it went. When you hear of contractor nightmares, this is one of them. Here's why: -Contractor and owner, Pete Herbert, cost estimated the job to replace the door at $300 labor plus materials that I would buy. Failed to bring a tape measure, failed to measure doorway, failed to measure door. -Contractor set the time to begin the work. 1 day prior he stated he needed to push back a day. I agreed. -Morning of job contractor calls 45 minutes prior to meeting at hardware store to buy materials and states he woke up late and needs another hour. -Meet at store to discover he has a broken foot but willing to do job anyway. Stated he had all needed materials to complete the job. -After arriving at my house he states that because he failed to measure door or doorway, he needs ME to return to the store to buy added materials to make the smaller door fit the larger door frame. I stated we would go together and that I was not making any more trips to the store that day. -At the store, contractor admits it was his fault in not measuring the doorway but requests another $100 in labor to accommodate his extra labor to make door fit properly. I agreed. Contractor stated that all though I was quoted $300 for the job it was really a $600 install. Contractor demonstrating failed ability to properly cost estimate the job and his poor planning ability. Stated that he'd been in the local construction business for 15 yrs. Not sure why after 15 yrs the contractor cannot compute an adequate estimate in time, cost, materials, and labor that caused him to back peddle on his labor estimate by $100 1.5 hours into starting the job. I also paid an extra $100 in job materials for job to be done right. -Contractor did not bring the required tools to complete the job. He had to run to another job site to get the tools he needed before returning to my house to start again. -By the time he actually started the job, it was noon. -Contractor stated multiple times that something was wrong but he'd "make it work somehow". -Contractor disconnected house alarm sensor, stated he could not replace into new door for some unknown reason, and built new door frame and trim around sensor wire. Left wire dangling between trim and wall. Stated that was the best he could do and maybe the alarm company could find a solution. The easy solution was to drill 2 holes for both sensor parts and mount on new door. Contractor kept original sensor parts. -Threw cigarette butts around my deck and patio and left them there. Stubbed out his cigarettes on my newly stained deck railing and in my plants on deck railing. Smoked in my doorway while working in front of a fan that blew his smoke throughout my house. -Cut pieces of moulding that in no way matched my baseboards and stuffed them into large cracks between between the new door and original baseboards. Said he didn't have a better idea of how to fix that problem and the chunks of wood would have to do. -Left old finishing/trim nails in wall sticking out beside moulding. -Used a crowbar on exposed sheet rock leaving exposed deep dents that have to be fixed. -Put a 1.5" piece of firring strip on top of the interior doorway when he should have installed a piece of moulding trim. I had purchased moulding that could have been used in this position. This moulding remained in contractor's truck. Contractor stated it would look okay when I painted it even though it looked as though it didn't belong on the door. -Installed moulding trim that was not flush to the wall due to a plastic obstruction. Filled large gaps with caulk instead of removing obstruction. Proper technique would have been to remove/cut out obstruction so that trim sits flat against wall. -75% of the way through the job, contractor states, "If you want me to finish the job the way it should be finished and have it look nice, it's going to be at least $400 more. I'm going to have to trim, sand, paint and detail it out and all of that takes time. I'll do it but it's going to cost you. Or, you can do it yourself. However, I'll take as much money as you're willing to give me." Did this contractor really just try to extort money from me to finish the job? What would you have said looking at a door that is nowhere near complete with busted and exposed sheetrock, jagged and ripped paint, exposed nails, dangling alarm wires with no way to connect to a sensor to arm the door, unpainted trim, cracked trim, unfilled nail holes, caulk everywhere to include my carpet, deck and A\C vent? -Smeared a two inch jagged white caulk line around entire outer perimeter of door on gray hardy plank siding. Contractor stated that in order to fix the unsightly caulk mess he created he recommended that I paint the backside of my house. How did replacing an exterior door turn into painting the back side of my house? -Contractor got white caulk all over an A/C floor vent in my living room, my deck railing, and parts of the moulding trim that should not have had caulk on them. Came with no drop cloths to protect my carpet. Threw greasy tools all over my carpet. Resulted in grease on my light beige carpet and kitchen tile. -Came with no paper towels or rags to clean up with. Had to supply those to him. -Contractor failed to leave approx. $50 worth of materials I paid for at hardware store but were not used in the job. These included tubes of caulk, nails, moulding trim, and a sheet of plywood. -When it was clear the contractor wasn't going to finish the job, I went to pay the contractor the $400 we agreed on. Contractor seemed put off when upon receiving the $400 as though he expected more for some reason -After receiving payment, contractor couldn't leave fast enough. -See attached photos of unfinished work that will cost me approx. 8 hours of my own time and an additional $100 to finish myself. If I wanted to do the job myself, I wouldn't have hired the contractor to do the work. Photos show unfinished work, shoddy and poor craftsmanship, crowbar damage, nails left in the wall, contractor's unbelievably poor caulk job resulting in backside of house needing to be painted, and the exposed alarm wire that I don't believe can be fixed as it should be. -I not only will never recommend this business or contractor to anyone, I will proactively dissuade as many as I can to keep them from dealing with what I now have to fix as a result of this contractor's incredibly poor work and business practices. There is no way you can tell me this contractor has a valid license. And if he does, I don't know how he keeps it. Stay away from Cross Creek Renovations.