JAMES JOHNSTON

Description of Work: I contacted James Johnston, Johnston Building and Remodeling, regarding remodeling of bathroom, plus cutting out a section of garage wall for termite inspection & installing carpet on the front porch steps. I was referred to him by Kenneth Branson, Mr. Johnston's former business partner. Mr. Johnston came June 20, 2008, while the pest control company was here. We discussed bathroom remodeling & carpeting porch and steps, & he presented me with a proposal. On July 10, 2008, Mr. Johnston & Alan Brown came to my home to schedule the work. They worked July 24, 29, 30 & 31, 2008. On July 31, Mr. Johnston asked if I would pay him the agreed upon $2,085, plus $75 for "replace board in floor & offset stool." for a total of $2,160. I paid him this sum by personal check. I then asked when he planned to carpet the porch & steps. He said he had forgotten this & promised to do so. He came back August 1, 2008, after I called regarding a leak at the lavatory sink, which he repaired. Mr. Johnston & Mr. Brown were here August 27, 2008, to carpet the front porch & steps. Mr. Johnston completed sanding the wall repair in the garage. I asked them to discuss the problems I had regarding their work in the bathroom and reviewed my list with them. I attached my notes on Mr. Johnston's responses. After our discussion, Mr. Johnston left. Mr. Brown said there was a leak under the lavatory sink and decided the faucets were bad. He replaced the faucets. He admitted he did not know how to repair the window problem, but would try to find a way to solve the problem. On August 28, 2008, I called Mr. Brown, as I could not get the stopper in the lavatory sink down. He came and adjusted it. He suggested that the solution to the window problem would be to paint the window panes. I said I would consider it. He also said he would paint the bathroom wall area above the shower. He would do this after I removed all the wallpaper. On September 10, 2008, I left a message at his home number at 2:PM. My message was: "Call when you want to finish the job in the bathroom. Alan said to call when the wallpaper had been removed. The wall has mud applied and sanded, and I plan to purchase the paint Saturday. Both porch rails are loose and need to be tightened." As of this date, I have received no response. List of Unsatisfactory Work: 1. Drywall above west wall of shower was installed incorrectly: the molding was not removed. Instead, he installed plain drywall butting up to the existing molding, mudded, and taped it. The tape began coming loose almost immediately. 2. The shower installed was shorter than the previous bathtub, so he filled in the space with a shelf, which was unfinished. He did not install molding and left a shelf tilting downward from the shower to the wall. 3. The lavatory sink and cabinet was not installed flush with the floor; it was set up on 4" wooden balls on each corner, leaving quite a gap between the floor and the bottom of the cabinet, giving me a cleaning problem.