Finley & Sons Builders, Inc.

"We began working for the member in July 2003. As her complaint truly states, the work progressed nicely and she made proper and timely payments agreed to per our contract. During the course of construction however, she asked us to remodel the old part of her home not included in our agreement and, having no apparent reason not to, in good faith I agreed. The work involved a kitchen, living room, bedrooms and bath. This is where the difficulties arose; Darci Grogan from our lumber company measured a cabinet incorrectly and there was a delay in getting the cabinet on time. But the major delays occurred because the member ordered many of the items involved in getting the kitchen completed from foreign countries where delivery took six to eight weeks and her own procrastination in getting materials to us on time. She also has boxes and mounds of personal things stored in the work site areas and stacked to the top in her attic. These things had to be moved from the work site to make working there even possible. I think that condition still exists today, even after explaining to her many times that they have to be moved in order for us to get the work done. In early June this year(2004), after completing ninety seven percent of the contracted work, and during the period we were experiencing all of this trouble trying to get her to move her possessions out of the way, order important items to complete the kitchen, our having to wait to receive things she had ordered from far away, she told us that she couldn’t get any more money from her available funds and we were not to expect any more money from her until the job was completely finished. She had charged all of her kitchen cabinets to our account with the lumber company and the cost of labor for my men was left unpaid. She then told us that, now that the major part of the work had been done, she was going to contract the rest of the work out herself. At that point I took the necessary legal steps to try to secure the cost of the cabinets and labor to install them. She eventually put the cost of the cabinets on her own charge account per Ms. Grogan at Graves Lumber but the cost of the labor to install is still left unpaid. As yet, I haven’t billed the member for that work. After this interruption in our trust for the member, we thought to try to begin again but were frustrated because the work site was still cluttered and inaccessible, she didn’t have the antique door knobs repaired and ready for us to install and she called a local television station’s news department and reported to them that we were not getting to her work and backing out of our responsibility to her job. Enclosed is a list of the things that she sent to me that are left undone at her project. I’ve marked at the side of the list the items that were from the original contract and the additional things not contracted. We will execute the work from the original contract as promised per that contract if she has the door knobs repaired and ready. Beyond that, does she have the work site cleared? Perhaps, at this juncture, it would be better for her to find other contractors to finish that work. All of us, me and my men are entirely frustrated by now. Thank you for inquiring of my side of things. If I can offer further information, please let me know. Sincerely Yours, Jim Finley, President"