WELCH HOME IMPROVEMENT

Desi Welch made 2 scenes in front of my house, shouting at the top of his lungs, once with a neighbor/witness 15 feet away. He screamed that my house had rotten wood (which he was supposed to have replaced!) and threatened to call Codes Enforcement on me (his own client). Desi Welch worked on the Gro-West project in Utica (rehabbing run-down houses) and told me that he knows all the building inspectors in Utica. 1. Substituted materials, plus. The house has four corners with decayed clapboards, and Desi Welch’s estimate/contract says “house will be covered backer board insulation + Tyvek wrap any bad rott. wood fixed with plywood.” Desi Welch used Kingspan foam, OSB/particle board, but no Tyvek, and no plywood. (Google OSB to see how it deteriorates with time/moisture.) For 4 weeks Desi Welch nailed over the clapboards and told me multiple times, “The wood is good. It’s holding a nail.” Then I got the truth when the last corner was sided. I heard Desi Welch’s son on my porch roof on a Saturday morning. I ran out, some foam and OSB were already in place, and I asked Desi Welch if the corner had been prepped (rotten clapboards removed) as the wood here was very bad. He said yes, but an hour later I heard the son scream/swear, “Oh, ****. I can’t get a **** nail to hold. I CAN’T GET A **** NAIL TO HOLD.” Then, DEAD SILENCE, quiet talking. Shhhhhhh, the homeowner might hear you. Son said he could only get one nail to hold. Desi Welch had instructed him to nail right over the rotten clapboards. This is not to be confused with contract wording “repair + replace rott wood for front + back porch”—I paid an extra $1000 for that. 2. Re: windows flooding about 2 weeks after siding completed. Desi Welch caulked 2 windows, gave reasons: my windows ALWAYS had problems, the sills slant funny, the rain was horizontal (not here), the pitch of the roof is low, I left the windows open (true, but I’ve NEVER, NEVER had a problem before the siding), the windows should have been pulled out before wrapping. But, Desi Welch told me that it was okay to wrap the windows without pulling out the windows, etc, that he had done it before. The water continues to flood into the windows today. Desi Welsh ignored my suggestion (from HGTV) to use a hose/ladder on a dry day to find window leaks. On 9/4/17, he texted that he had to get into the house while it was raining, I replied “COME AFTER TEN,” he never showed up. In a tirade on 9/6/17 in front of my house, he accused me of not letting him into my house and stormed off for the last time. 3. I told Desi Welsh to write the contract so that I WOULD PAY FOR MATERIALS, but it ended up that he paid for some materials from Home Depot. I asked him to show me how got from the estimated dollars to the final contract dollars. He wouldn’t do it, so I got them to match but only when I added $800 extra for gray siding. Desi Welch had told me I had to pay more because YOU WAITED TOO LONG! (to sign the contract, make the order). Later, he told me it was for the shakes, not siding. The supplier confirms that there was no extra charge. So, Desi Welch owes me $800. Also, his contract also included “VINYL SOFIT FOR PORCH CEILINGS,” an extra $1000 that I didn’t ask for. 4. Instructed me to write my checks to his personal account “because my wife does a better job balancing the checkbook.” 5. Has a hot temper. Once ORDERED me not to use Angie’s list to find an asphalt contractor. 6. Other contractors have made comments like: only the window bottoms had been caulked, caulking tape should have been used, the J-channel should have been mitred (sloppy looking, too), facia wasn’t pushed up far enough. Desi Welch left 30-year-old drip edge so that rain runs under the drip edge, staining the new soffit and siding. He ran out of wrap twice, so he left all the rusty flashing unwrapped and ugly, and I got dead silence when I mentioned it. There’s a piece of siding missing on the porch that he never got to. Suggestions for consumers: Arrange to pay for your own materials, always get an insurance certificate (even if a business card or sign says “fully insured”), be aware that contractors get a fee for recommending their friends for additional work.