Woodbridge Construction

Our experience with Mike Dana / Woodridge Construction was not good at all, and I would not recommend him. This project started in November of 2009 when we broke ground on the new garage, and the new kitchen space didn't become usable until May 2010. We were without a kitchen from February to May. Other contractors build entire houses in this time! Despite promising not to work on other projects while ours was in process, he did this multiple times and it severely impacted the timeline of the project. He also lied about working on other projects, but we know the people who he was doing the work for. During the project he was deceitful and dishonest and much of his work was shoddy and/or incomplete. Near the end of the project, he stopped showing up and we had to fire him. We ended up having to pay others to fix and complete the work and finish some of the work ourselves. He also didn't pay a subcontractor, even though we paid him for the materials. I understand the subcontractor is now pursuing legal avenues to obtain payment from Mr. Dana. Here is a summary of our issues. Some are serious issues that were structural or dangerous, some are annoyances. Summed together they indicate a pattern. This is a contractor you should be warned about and avoid. - He attempted to use 2x6 floor joists even though our architect's plans and building code indicated 2x8, then lied about it when confronted. We had to force him to re-do it using the appropriate lumber to span the distance. - He failed to pour a footing and properly support a load-bearing beam so it could span 18 feet and meet code. He lied about it, and we had to force him to re-do the work. While the beam was unsupported, a large crack appeared in our plaster on the 2nd story above what was being supported by the beam. - He put down a hardwood floor, and finished it poorly. He used a cotton tube sock (?!) to apply the polyurethane finish, which left pieces of lint & cotton embedded in the finish. We had to have him re-do it (sand down & finish again), which he attempted to do, but when he stopped showing up we had to hire another flooring finisher to sand and finish the floor appropriately - at our expense. All together, the new floor was sanded and finished three times. - He always left the job site a mess, and stored his unused excavation and masonry equipment on our property for months, even when the excavation was complete. - He damaged our driveway when his equipment leaked oil and ate through the blacktop. - He didn't attach the ductwork - he just left it fitted together loose, and didn't hang it with anything - he left it supported by electric work in the basement. - He attached incandescent electrical fixtures without using wiring boxes, we had to fix ourselves. - His mason didn't lay the concrete block for the garage properly and didn't use mortar between the joints. Therefore, the garage leaked. We had to force him to fix it. - The gutters he put up don't extend the full distance, and therefore drip at the ends of their span. - The joints in the gutters he put up leak. - He didn't pour concrete footings for walls as he said he would. - The mason on his crew washed his tools and extra concrete on our front yard, killing our grass. - A small 2 x 4 ft concrete & brick entry platform had to be re-done because it was very uneven and looked horrible. The surface is currently crumbling after only one year. - A number of spots on our cabinet are ruined. For example he cut out a hole too big for an electrical fixture, and the switch plate won't cover it. - He said he would put 2 coats of paint on the garage, but didn't do so for the back (hiddent) side, and therefore some of it was exposed. We had to finish ourselves. - He didn't paint the new plaster on the new space and we had to finish it ourselves. - He damaged a cabinet door during installation and never installed a replacement. - I had to have him re-do electric work. There were numerous issues we had to have him address, such as crossed circuits, lying about how work was accomplished, and tapping into circuits that should have been separate. - We had to have him fix stucco work that was done poorly. - He said he would handle donating some old appliances and building materials for us, but to this day he has not provided a receipt, even after much prodding. The donation was worth over $1000. - I could add more to the list, but I think this list gets the point across. During the project, Mike would ask for money as work was progressing. Near the end of the project he said he needed payment for materials (such as granite & lumber). When we made that payment, we held back about $2500 for the work he hadn't completed. This was May of 2010. He said he would finish within a few weeks. We didn't hear from him. It got to be July, and after sending multiple registered letters, pone calls and emails, and finally telling him we were going to hire someone else to finish the work and bill him for any overages, he said that if we did that he would put a lien on our house (for what we weren't sure). He said he would finish by the first week in August. He didn't show up. In the end, we sent him a registered letter, letting him know that he was fired, and decided we'd rather lose money instead of dealing with him ever again. Overall our experience was horrible. We should have fired him multiple times, but he promised to improve. We had to have our architect (who is excellent) intervene multiple times during the project. He came recommended from our architect, and I'm quite sure the architect won't recommend him any more. Nobody else should have to go through this. If we hadn't caught some of the things he was trying to do, we would have ended up with a dangerous situation and flawed remodel. I can't imagine letting this happen to someone who may not know what to look for. Frankly, I'm worried about other issues we may not have caught. Stay away!