Schenck’s Carpentry

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Mr. Schenck started October 25, 2014.  Showed up that morning and all he did was move a door's framed opening. Billed that day for 3 hours of "work."  Of the 3 hours on-site, he spent 1 full hour telling me about how much work he has outside of my job INSTEAD of working on the actual door.  Didn't think I'd actually have to pay for the conversation.  I did.
Fast foward 1.5 months.  Yes, 1.5 months and the job is still ongoing.  It's early December and he's just getting to the drywall.  Spends 2-3 days on the drywall and then say's it's complete and ready for my painter to come in and prime and paint.  AFTER it's primed and painted, it's brought to my attention that the drywall wasn't finished correctly (dents, seams showing, areas that should've been sanded that weren't, tape showing- truly an amateur job).  Schencks's own guys admit that they should've used a certain light to check for imperfections prior to painting but Mr. Schenck didn't have the light with him and told his guys it was fine to move on.  The drywall problem was brought to his attention and he did come back and fill holes, re-mud and sand (all on the freshly painted walls and ceiling) BUT DID NOT re-prime and paint and DID NOT agree to do so even after he was asked to.
Once we exchange words about the drywall, Mr. Schenck chose to stay away from the job and let his guys finish.  So much for his general contracting oversight.  I have to say that the two guys on site were apologetic and did help move the work forward.  It's now a few days before Christmas and I let Mr. Schenck know we've had enough since the work had been going on since October and he needed to pack up and go.  The job's still not done (even to this day in fact; I work on it when I can). 
I won't get into the other aspects of his work that were sub-par.
You'd figure we could part ways somewhat amicably right?  Wrong.  His final bill came in $1700 higher than the agreed contract (final invoice sent from his attorney).  Now, in fairness, we did have a few hundred dollars worth of labor extras that I was told would be cancelled out by the extra money I spent re-doing the painting and extra materials needed due to his drywall problems.  Guess he didn't remember that part when he had his attorney place a lien on my house.
Stay away from this guy.  Nothing but a headache and hassle.  He'll spend all day telling you how great he is and how busy he is ALL WHILE HE SHOULD BE WORKING!  He'll cut corners and then bill you to fix them.  From his slowness, the shoddy craftsmenship and then his attorney sending me letters, it's more than anyone should have to deal with.  In my 20 years of hiring general contractors for home building and remodeling, I've never dealt with anyone like this nor ever had an experience like this.  NOT worth the hassle.  Plenty of other great, reputable contractors out there. Wish I would've read something like this before I hired him!

Mr Schenck was hired to 1) install basement stair handrail, 2) fix poorly hanging 2nd story deck gate 3) install handrail from 2nd story deck to ground level.
After spending an entire day here, only the outdoor handrail was done correctly.  Within 3 days, the basement handrail had pulled out of the drywall (it was not installed in the studs as you would assume it should be), the back gate was out of square and required lifting to latch it into place.  The screws were also stripped, making it impossible for another carpenter to salvage the pressure-treated wood and re-do Schenck's work.
Mr Schenck and his son spent most of their non-working time trying to up-sell me and tell me what our house needed as far as renovations...time that should have been spent doing their job correctly.
Mr Schenck also had spotty follow-up and eventually stopped returning calls to reschedule a time to fix the work he had done.

1) small over hang on back door commissioned
2) estimate given
3) work began
4) building inspector stopped as contractor had no permit
5) Contractor had outstanding fine from another lack of permit
6 Contractor had many previous warnings.
7) Because of this neglect I was forced to hire have assume many additional expenses
8) Cheated on the bill asked to pay for what should have been his responsibility
9) Job still incomplete