DCJ Construction

Things started off fine. He can in and told us exactly what he was going to do. He told us his plans to put up plastic sheeting and use a wet saw to cut the foundation to minimize the dust in the house. He told us that the whole job would be done in about a week. We agreed to a price that included the price of the permits. Once he started the work everything went wrong. He not only did not put up plastic sheeting to protect our belongings in the basement, he also didn't use the wet saw so there was dust everywhere. So much so that it set out the fire alarm several times. His solution was to take up the fire alarm. He moved the window and installed the door. However, I could see under the door frame and if the wind blew too hard to down would swing open even with the deadbolt locked. We asked him to fix this and it wasn't done. He only showed up periodically after that. He would call and say that we was coming the next day and then show up hours late. He then told my daughter who was waiting for his that he was late because he was hung over from a party the night before. At this point he started asking for additional money because he said the cost of the supplies had gone up since he gave us the estimate. Mind you that this is a couple weeks later. He proceeded to build the stairs and platform over the next two weeks. I pointed out several safety issue and other problems I saw and only about half ever got fixed. The stair are now falling apart to the point that my neighbor fell through one of the stairs. Luckily he didn't sue. I contacted the city to get a copy of the permits since Doug never gave them to us only to find out that he never filed for any permits. However my daughter actually went to the bank with him to get the money for the permits. The door he installed has now leaked three times to the point that my basement was flooded with a foot of water each time. The platform supports for the deck were never anchored in the ground and weren't the proper size. The entire staircase has to be replaced also. No matter how many time we called he did not return and has not returned our calls. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. The local inspector is not allowing him to work in our town again.

During the work on my water supply, it was discovered that my underground oil tank had sprung a leak. Luckily, my insurance covered all clean up costs. But, I had given DCJ a $2400.00 down payment to replace my oil tank which was not covered by insurance. DCJ started the cleanup with an environmental outfit and the NYS D.E.C. The ?clean up? went on for over 2 weeks. I had a 1 ½ story mound of toxic soil on my front lawn. Mr. Casscles was not certified to transport it away even though he represented himself as being licensed when he started the clean up. He was continuously scrounging around for a properly licensed driver. None ever showed up. At the urging of my insurance company, I got another environmental cleanup outfit to look at the oil cleanup work. Their conclusion, the D.E.C?s opinion, and my insurance company?s opinion were that the cleanup was taking too long in relation to the small spill size and that possibly some ?milking the project? was occurring. During this time, Mr. Casscles supplied my home with heat with a temporary oil drum and a temporary line routed to my furnace. The temporary line leaked oil into my home continuously. It became apparent after 8-10 attempts at fixing the line ? IN THE SAME PLACE - that Mr. Casscles did not know how to properly flare a copper fuel line. My home reeked of the smell of oil and the situation was dangerous ? the leak was right near my furnace. You can draw your own conclusions regarding Mr. Casscles? plumbing ?skills?. For the $2400.00 I had given to DCJ, Mr. Casscles delivered a DEFECTIVE oil tank. It arrived with one of its legs severely bent. The weld holding the leg was damaged and it was a certainty that the leg weld would not hold up. Mr. Casscles also removed and left a venting cover off the tank. This allowed subsequent rainfall to fill the tank with whatever oil was put in there. The ?new? tank was totally useless and not worth my money. Due to some inclement weather, work stopped for two days. A situation arose (the leaky oil line ?again!) where I needed to talk to Mr. Casscles. Over the two days, he was nowhere to be found and did not even return several voicemails I left for him. When he finally did show up to resume work two days later, I summarily fired him. I had had enough. He did not take it well and became very hostile. Hoping that level heads would prevail, I urged him to gather his equipment and leave my property quietly or I would have the police there. I contracted a new environmental cleanup service that had my property cleaned up; the toxic soil mound removed; fresh fill put in ? with D.E.C approval ? in 2 days. I?m glad I did this as DCJ wanted to go further with totally unnecessary clean up (according to the D.E.C.) and rip up my driveway to find alleged ?additional oil seepage?. A day or so after he was fired, I contacted Mr. Casscles with regard to refunding my oil tank deposit, removing the defective tank, and compensating me for the additional work (he should have done) that had to be performed on the water project. He flatly refused any consideration and hung up on me. All this resulted in my filing TWO small claims lawsuits against DCJ, Inc. and Mr. Casscles. The case numbers are 11040052 and 11040107- all public record. While waiting for my hearings, I found out that Mr. Casscles actually did attend plumbing school as he stated. What he did not state to me was that he also dropped out of plumbing school. Who drops out of plumbing school??!! From what I experienced of his plumbing, he would have been well advised to have stayed on a bit longer in school. Both cases were filed in the West Haverstraw, NY Court. Mr. Casscles ? in a display of total arrogance ? never showed up for either of the two small claims hearings to present his side of things. He never honored the default judgments I received and even ignored sheriff?s deputies who communicated with him his need to settle the two judgments I now held against his company and him. I had to go through the additional steps to claim my judgments via bank subpoena. I found out that Mr. Casscles stays on the move with his bank accounts. He frequently opens and closes accounts at different banks ? an obvious effort to remain a ?moving target?. On one of his accounts, I found out there was at least one other sizeable judgment ahead of mine ? so sizeable that Mr. Casscles/DCJ?s now restrained account had a large negative balance. He still did not contact me or my attorney to settle. So, a visit to his bank by the local Sherriff?s office was in order to obtain (as in confiscate from him) what part of my judgment amount(s) could be taken. I have to think by now all three credit agencies know of the judgments I held and still hold against DCJ Construction and Mr. Casscles. These stay on his credit record for seven years? even after both judgments are settled. They stay on indefinitely if the judgments are not settled. That is not good for one?s personal or business credit rating. It should be standard procedure to check the credit rating on any potential contractor. So, it would seem apparent that one can rationally conclude that Mr. Casscles does not respect the spirit and intent of the law as he ignores summons and judgments, even ignores Sheriff?s deputies; does not even respect his own credit rating and, hence, does not respect his own integrity and reputation. So what would his integrity and respect for you and your project be? As another footnote, Mr Casscles was arrested in late 2012; tried and convicted on misdemeanor counts of operating without proper licenses and passing bad checks. I sincerely hope that my experiences with DCJ Construction, Inc. and Douglas E. Casscles, Jr. of Garnerville (West Haverstraw, NY) or Black Rock Excavation (Cornwall, NY) do not become Angie?s list member?s experiences. Forewarned is forearmed.