Capital Construction

He had his crew come out to clear the trees/brush AFTER they already dug the holes for the pole barn posts. He told them to only clear inside the perimeter of the building. I had to clear the rest to allow for adequate work space. He would not get a machine (e.g.- stump grinder, backhoe) to remove the roots in the floor area. I had to have that done to ensure concrete would not be poured over the existing roots. They set the posts he bought - 12' posts for a 10' wall - they need to go in the ground deeper than 2'. Then he explained to me that when "I changed the building from 9' walls to 10' walls it messed up his order". The contract that was signed before he started doing any work specified 10' walls - it was his contract AND we never talked about 9' walls! He was supposed to order longer posts and did get some longer ones but oddly enough he left one of the short ones in place. The second attempt to set the posts resulted in a line so crooked that even he realized it was unacceptable. Some of the posts were out of line as much as 3". Also they put them in the same holes without doing anything to the holes. By this time it was already the third week in June. After coming out to inspect the posts he said he would get them straightened up. The crew didn't show up for another week and I decided to get ALL the posts down and start with fresh holes. So I repositioned the footprint of the barn by "swinging" the back end to the west about 10-15 degrees - nothing else changed - size, wall height, front vs. back, style, material to be used, etc. I got the new holes dug, using a machine and finalizing the digging by hand. I got the holes filled with concrete to a height where the posts could set on the concrete, be deep enough in the ground and be high enough for 10' walls. This was the first week in July. They set the posts the following week and did not show up for another week and a half. I called and said I would pay for the material he purchased so far (posts, concrete, 2x4s) and the amount of labor it should have taken to get to the point and would like the rest of my money back. Of course he told me he didn't have the money and he planned on finishing the building. This was around July 16th. Another famous quote - "I was getting the material list together since you changed the building all around". The ONLY thing that changed was the position of the building by a few feet which did not change ANY material requirements. By the end of July the only progress made was the 2x4 girters were applied to the posts. His first order for trusses was cancelled by the store because his check bounced. I asked him to use 1/2" osb instead of the 7/16" he specified and let me know the add'l cost. He ordered the 7/16 which was delivered, blamed the mistake on the store, who took the back the 7/16 and he didn't order the replacement osb with that money - he put the credit against gift cards. When he ordered the trusses he did not order any gable end trusses - said he filled in the extra wood for wall nailing himself!?!?! We made him order the gable end trusses. When the trusses were delivered the truck could not make up a hill to be unloaded near the building. It was one of the few times he was there and right before he left he told his crew to hand carry them up the hill. I helped them carry the trusses using a tractor with a front end loader. ALSO during this time my wife sat down with him and his wife to discuss getting the building done, how long it was going to take, etc. This was on July 27, 2011. He told my wife the following: 1. There's no such thing as 1/2" osb. 2. The reasons for the delay was that I changed the building all around AND I delayed his crew from moving forward when I helped them set the posts and asked them to give the concrete an extra day to set up. 3. The price he quoted in the contract now does not include the concrete floor - even though he added an extra $2700 in the price for the "extra cost mason charging because of location". Since I wasn't there and this guy did nothing right to date, my wife and I decided not to fight this issue and get what we could out of this guy in order to cut our losses. He agreed to a new completion date of Aug 19, 2011. By the middle of September the roof sheeting was not complete and what was installed did not have any protective coating. The siding (which I purchased way back in June) was not applied and there were no doors on site nor on order. The contractor asked for the FINAL payment in order to purchase the shingles. I'm not sure if he was going to purchase the doors or not with this money and he never mentioned when/if he was going to install the siding. My wife and I agreed that we already gave him more money than we should have and giving him more so that he might complete this building after 3 months of working on it would be a bad idea. We told him that we didn't have any further need for his services. I made a report to the BBB (mine was the second negative report against Capital Construction to the BBB that year). I talked to an attorney but decided that legal pursuit would be fruitless - they didn't even own the house they lived in and his lack of basic equipment (ladders, hand tools, etc.) spoke volumes about the prospects of getting any financial reimbursement. I have not seen any advertisement from this company since so I do not know if he is still in business or is under another company name. His name is Terry Dotson, his wife at that time was Dawn Dotson and his phone number at the time was 419-921-6233.