We received a call on June 30th. The job was to start on Tues. July 5th,2011. We were told they would start then, after the holiday. We came home Friday the1st of July to the dumpster in front of the garage door. 5 days early- unexpected. Ok, now we can't access the lawn tractor. Jim did NOT mention that when he called to tell us the start date.
They showed up on time promptly on July 5th as stated. We mistakenly trusted that we could go to work and leave them to work as professionals. We came home after work on the 5th, they were gone, the siding was completed, the roof was almost completed , but for the caulking of the flashing and some other minor things. Jim called my hubby late day on the 5th to let him know it would be completed early on Thurs. the 6th. Would someone meet him to pay him by noon?
My hubby explained he had a meeting and would meet him there at 4:30 , there was no way he could leave to be there earlier.
Jim agreed to that.
We arrived home on the 5th from work-The front yard hard massive wide tire tracks,ruts in it. The entire wall, even farthest from the house at the top of the driveway near the street had been walked all over with dirt/tar foot tracks. There was NO reason to walk along it like a balance beam.The main first tier and planting area closest to the house was filthy and it was obvious they had no concern for their surrounding. Our new paver sidewalk was scuffed and had scratches in the colored stone. I looked around and saw cigarette butts all thur the driveway, and all thur the yard all the way around the house, even an empty pack crumpled. plastic wrappers.drink cups laying on the side of the house.
* The ridge vent along the top of the roof line was obviously installed incorrectly for there was a hump in the very middle.
*My hubby went up into the attic and noticed that the old triangle gable vents were never removed, and no wood had been cut out to fit the new longer rectangular ones. So, the vents we completely useless with no air access to pull thur. It was excessively HOT in the attic. NO air was exiting thur the new ridge vent.
We tried to call Jim after pm - to tell him about the air flow/lack of in the attic. No answer. No voice mail. My hubby called him early around 7:30am on their final work day the 6th, and told Jim Scheerbaum our concern about the ridge vent being humped up in the middle of the roof. And that the attic had no in take flow from the gable end vents since they did NOT cut out for the new different sized ones. Jim told my hubby and quot;Oh no, that can't be left like that. You have to have the air flow, it should be cut out. No problem I'll call my guy there and tell him to go up and pull off the gable vents and cut the wood underneath out to open it upand quot;
My husband told Jim, and quot;before you have him do anything, call me back first because it may need to be cut from the inside attic to ensure there is enough opening in the wood.and quot; Jim told him , no problem, I'll call you back.
My husband received a call about an hour later, Jim told him and quot;my guy went and drilled a few one inch holes in the wood, that will give enough air flow. If you seem to think it's staying too hot in the attic in the next week or so, call us back and I'll have them cut out the wood.and quot; To the reply my husband asked why did you do anything before calling me back first? Jim told him the holes should work fine, and not to worry he was local and wasn't going anywhere.If we needed him to come back, he would.
I actually went to the house and tried to catch the guys before they left, but I arrived around 12:00pm and they had finished and left.
I walked around the sides of the house and was expecting to see a good bit of wood shavings from them drilling the holes since the planking is an inch thick. Just a few shavings on each side, and a mess of cigarettes and scattered debris - including their rusty old 1 inch drill bit left behind. Needless to say - the clean up job was pathetic. But the hump was out of the middle if the ridge line, and the roof was finished and looked nice.So did the siding. I call my hubby and left to check on my elderly mom.
Now there had been a prior agreement that Jim meet my hubby @ 4:30 on Wed.the 6th to look over the job, get paid the balance and to provide us with a paid receipt that included his 1 yr labor guarantee along with the warranties for our Alcoa siding and the 30yr arcitectual shingles. By pm Jim called to say he couldn't make it, he was going to the fair with is wife, and could we just leave the check in our mailbox for him to swing by and pick up?
This went back and forth with my hubby- no we aren't leaving a check in our mailbox, why can't you swing by early the on the 7th and we'll give you the check and you can give us the receipt. Jim said he would leave our receipt in our mailbox. Now I was getting curious.
Why won't he come get his check in person at the house with us and give us our paperwork regarding the warranties and guarantee of labor???
Jim stopped answering his phone to my husbands calls by 6pm wednesday evening. But - I had never called him from MY cell phone, so I called Jim. And he answered. When I said HI Jim, this is Yada yada... silence. Hello, Jim? He replied hello. I asked why he didn't want to pick up his check at our house? He said he was done for the night. I said ok why not go to our house first thing 7 am, my hubby will pay you. NO I have to drive far away for an insurance damage bid.
Now I was wondering what is going on when a contractor won't pick up their money??? I asked him point blank. Jim, do you even have my receipt and the warranty for the materials for us? He said no, he didn't fill it out yet. Why can't he just get his check? I told him that he stated from the VERY beginning that he guaranteed his work/labor for 1 full yr, in writing and the shingles and siding had warrranties. That when he brings those- I'll be more than glad to pay him. He hesitated and said well, I'll get the check from you tomorrow afternoon. I was staying at my mothers 20 miles away, I told him that IF he wanted his check, he would now have to drive out to my mothers home since I was staying there to help her with some things. Jim Scheerbaum agreed that he would drive to my mothers home ( he also had her deposit for a full house siding job) I would give him his check in return for my paperwork after he returned from his out of town and quot;insurance damage bidand quot;.
Jim arrived as stated after 12pm - I welcomed him into the house - he stood on the porch sheepishly, I said come on in, I have to get the check. He walked in the doorway. I picked up the check and turned to him and asked, and quot;Do you have my receipt and the warranty paperwork?and quot; He said no I don't have it, I just drove all the way from Irwin.
Not wanting to come across as angry as he was beginning to make me , on account that he has $2500.00 of my mothers money to install siding on her house. I said Jim, you know as well as I do that there is no way I should even hand you this check without you giving me a receipt that it's paid in full with your guarantee and the paperwork you owe me. Give me one good reason why I should pay you now? He stuttered and finally says.... Well I don't have the warranty paperwork for the shingles, I have to get it from the manufacturer. I said..OK what about the Alcoa siding warranty? He said.. well that does actually have a warranty.
My reply was...So you still want me to pay you , when you stated all along that you provide this guarantee on your work and you can't even take the time to write it up for a customer? That's ridiculous. At that time my mother stepped into the room and softly spoke. Jim , excuse me, but can you give me an idea of when you'll be working on MY house? Jim quickly said and quot;2 weeks, you're next on my schedule. I already have your siding at my building. Yep, 2 weeks.
I stupidly paid his with my husbands check