COLT SIMMONS CONSTRUCTION

Colt emailed us on 8/27 that he had obtained the building permits for the project and would be starting in September. Then the contract start date of 9/9/13 arrived, but Colt did not show up nor contact us about his missed start date. (Note: the only two contingencies that his contract allowed for to miss the start date HE chose, were that he had to get the required permits (which he did), and that the owners had to obtain financing (which was N/A as we were paying cash for the project and did not need to get a loan). After that start day came and went with no contact from Colt...a week later WE finally contacted him, and he had an excuse that he was behind on a project and would start on our project by late October. We allowed that delay and requested he let us know if he would not meet his delayed start date. He did contact us on 11/1 but again asked for a 2-3 week delay. We patiently waited again, as he NEVER insinuated he did not intend to fulfill his obligations to the contract. The three weeks went by, and Colt did not show up to start on the project. Randy again emailed him to ask of the updated start date, addressed our concerns of his staying on schedule, and to again request a copy of the signed contract. Colt replied to that email on 11/5 stating ?I will get that emailed to you. Once again sorry for the delay.? That was the last communication we received from Colt Simmons. We never received the emailed copy of the contract he promised and he never showed up to start on the project. We have attempted to contact him numerous times but he has ignored all emails, phone calls, and texts from us. On 12/31 we mailed him a certified letter to his business?s mailing address asking him to contact us concerning his default on the contract. But after 3 attempts over a month's time from the USPS to deliver the certified letter... Colt never accepted to receive that letter and the unopened letter was returned to us. He instead chose to keep ignoring us, the other party to the contract. This type of deceptive behavior from a builder is not acceptable. He should never have entered into a contract with us if he had no intentions of ever fulfilling his obligations to that contract. His questionable and unethical actions of keeping us bound to his contract until he decided he no longer wanted the project, kept us from hiring another builder and completing the project on time. We are now five months after his missed start date and no construction was ever started, he has not legally dissolved the contract and has not contacted us directly since 11/05. Only after we, as a last resort to get a response from him, filed a complaint with the BBB... Colt amazingly responded to the BBB ( but still has not contacted us) within 3 hours with more excuses. He told the BBB that he had decided to ?withdraw his bid? on the project. First of all, this was after we signed the contract and he had already obtained the permits. The bid process was over with by this point in time. He had won the bid. He had entered into a legal contract with us. Secondly, even if he could ?withdraw his bid? after he entered into a contract, he did not obviously think it was of major importance to inform the other party to the contract, of his decision to default on his contract? Every licensed builder should understand contract law. Contracts are written and signed for a reason. What if he had showed up to do the work according to our contract. What if we, the other party to the contract, made excuses to delay his starting the job on time. What if we led him to believe we intended to fullfil OUR obligations to the contract, but then after we delayed him for months... we just disappeared and stopped responding to his calls, texts and emails. What if he turned away other projects because he knew he was obligated to the signed contract? What if we ignored him until he sent us a certified letter and we refused to accept it and it was returned to him. What if when confronted by the BBB for breach of contract we make undocumented excuses and say... 'we thought it was best to protract your bid'. How would this situation be resolved, if the tables were turned? We are filing this complaint and sharing our negative experience of hiring a builder that ignores the other party to his contract as a way to get out of the legal contract. Honest communication when working with a builder is essential.... and in our experience, there was none.