E&L GENERAL CONTRACTORS INC

E&L General Contractors, Inc. was hired to re-model our house. At first, Elliott Jefferson (owner/signer of contract) was very forthright about his services. But he completely dropped the ball in the fourth quarter. At the end he delivered a change order bill of over $2,000 dollars that included all but one item noted on the blue prints he used to bid the job. After a heated discussion, we paid for the one item. He poured a stamped porch, told to color match the sidewalk he did earlier. Not even close, his line was the contrast looks good and that there was nothing we could do about it now. He was hired to frame the deck. The decking installer required him to return and square it before he would deck it. This is the point when he seamed to grow tired of us. We had to make numerous phone calls to get him to follow up on his sub contractors. It finally got to the point we began calling subs to coordinate their next move. Mr. Jefferson was nowhere to be found. Alas, we moved in, only to find mold growth in the attic. Upon further investigation, we found Mr. Jefferson failed to put in code required attic venting. To protect our rights we obtained legal council. We sent Mr. Jefferson a Notice of Defect giving him 90 days to reply. A call was made to advice him a letter had been sent and to please call to discuss. We received no communication for 90 days. Finally, after last minute prompting by our lawyer we set a meeting date. Mr. Jefferson sent his son, his lawyer, the insulation contractor, the electrician, a building inspector and an industrial hygienist. But never had the courage to come himself, he sent his son and lawyer to fight his battles, hmm. His total refusal to confront the problem resulted in a cost to us of over $3,600 including legal, engineering and inspection fees. Not taking responsibility for the problem and not paying or repairing per the bids presented him; we filed a complaint with a State of Oregon contractor licensing agency. They reviewed and accepted the claim. After an onsite meeting, they agreed Mr. Jefferson s negligence in proper attic ventilation. He is ordered by settlement contract to repair the venting and pay for mold remediation. Please note, Mr. Elliott Jefferson never showed up for the association meeting, only his son and lawyer again to fight his battle. They were given a 15-day extension (from 30 to 45) at the meeting to complete the work. On day 41 Mr. Jefferson s crew shows up to do the repair. On day 45, they request another extension because they were unable to finish per contract. Out of frustration and desperation, we agreed. We were compensated with cash per day until done. Finally, after 18 months of legal battles, thousands of non-refundable money, mediation orders E&L fixed their mistake. And in retrospect, all Elliott Jefferson had to do was call us and ask what can I do to fix this .