Highrock Inc

This contractor had done work for both my brother and my nephew in the past so he came highly recommended. My first contact was to make a doorway from the kitchen to the bedroom directly beside the kitchen to make it a dining room. While estimating that task, contractor told me my roof should be my priority instead of cosmetic jobs. Now, my house had just gone through the inspections necessary for a property transfer in Pennsylvania. So, the "urgency" of this fix took me by surprise. I asked contractor for an estimate to do the roof and his price was very equitable probably based on the fact he had been referred to me. Contractor located a large dumpster in my driveway and commenced taking the old shingles off. He claimed to run into some obstacles in that task as he stated there were multiple layers of shingles in spots on the roof so the price went up. The roof was installed and just coming from Texas, I was not familiar with the venting procedure done on newer roofs. Shingles were run at the very peak of the roof in a manner I'm sure you would be more familiar with than me. I asked about the vent and contractor was very curt in informing me that was the newer way to do a roof. From that moment on our relationship became argumentative. Anything I'd ask about got a snappy reply or finally the very loud comment on my never being pleased with anything. Unfortunately, not only was I dealing with the contractor's abuse, I was dealing with a new position at work, a long commute, and the fact that the contractor's price kept rising; I teared up on the phone with him trying to placate him so he wouldn't just storm off the job. I can't remember if contractor did the doorway between the kitchen and the diningroom before or after the roof; however, neither job was completed to my satisfaction; mostly because the difference in the final amount owed was pushing my budget. The bare subflooring was left in that doorway...no new threshhold or anything. Still I paid contractor all of his money. I asked him to give me two weeks to come up with the difference between his estimate and his bill and he literally yelled at me over the phone about that. But now the fun was really going to begin. The first good rain we got the ceiling over the enclosed porch on the front of the house leaked. It had been very, very dry for quite a few months. However, after several rains, I noticed the beadboard used for the ceiling of the porch was getting water damaged and I was filling up trash cans with the water that was FLOWING down on my porch. When I bought this house, I truly believed I could make a nice living area out of the porch out there; it had jalousied windows, a rug on the floor, several pieces of furniture, a country swag on the wall that had electric lights. But now the water was pouring down on all of that. I have pictures of the damage caused throughout this ordeal. When I voiced my complaint to the contractor regarding the leaking and damage he needed to fix, as God is my witness, he replied, "Well, the roof leaked before I did anything; what makes you think I'm responsible?" Isn't that part of why one might choose to replace their roof...it might be leaking? Wouldn't you expect a new roof to alleviate any leaking problem if there even was one before? I just can't imagine the former owners putting all that out on the porch like a livingroom setting if the water poured down on them like it was pouring down now. We went round and round for quite some time over this issue. I'd call every time it was raining so he could witness exactly how bad the leaking was. He claims to have come out a couple of times to caulk somewhere; but, ultimately, threw up his hands and said that was about all he could do. He offered to come out again and I told him to save himself the trip and me the aggravation if he couldn't guarantee he could fix the issue. He started taking longer and longer to answer phone calls around this time. That's how badly our relationship had detereorated. I contacted the Attorney General's office and was told by an employee they didn't handle cases like this. I assumed an employee with the AG's office would know what she was talking about. And to make matters worse, the only attorney I had any faith in, one I had done work for while living in Hanover, was also the contractor's attorney. I didn't know who else to go to for advice and I didn't have the money to sue the contractor at this time so I dropped everything. I truly don't know exactly why the contractor got so defensive during this project. I know my sister-in-law used to bake for the contractor and his crew regularly and I wasn't doing that as I was not a stay-at-home grandmother. Maybe it was a psychological thing as I am considerably taller than contractor and some men have a problem with that. I know I can be intimidating as I've had to interact with every level of construction contractor there is while out in Texas; from the General Contractor of huge office buildings to the guy that painted the address numbers on the curbs in front of new houses. I regret I allowed the contractor to manipulate me just because he was a friend of my brother and nephew. I didn't want to jeopardize any relationship they had with contractor in case they still wanted more work done by him. I have had two other contractors do considerable work on my home since this incident. There was never a cross word at any time with either of those contractors. One put in an entirely new kitchen and the other put in a new bathroom and remodeled the dining room. Both are good friends of mine to this date. The couple that worked together on my bath and dining room are very close to me and we go out to eat together once a month at least. I also know a customer of the contractor in question was awarded over $8,000 in a civil suit brought against him. Since I still have a bad impression of this entire fiasco and the fact I subscribe to Angie's List, I decided I wanted to let others know about my experience. I think one of the reasons this incident has always stuck in my craw is the different picture contractor painted while arguing with me. He never once admitted he might have been at fault with the roof. In addition, there was an implication that it was my word against he and his crew, as well. Still, contractor sent me a Christmas card! I sent a letter thanking him for the thoughtfulness of the card, but what I really would like to get from him was a fix for the leak he created. I don't believe we've had any other communication since then. I know in the beginning, I did favor contractor as he has an artificial leg and my sister-in-law commented he said he felt like God picked him up under his arms and pulled him from the machine he was entangled in. Only a miracle could have saved him as there was no one else around when the accident happened. If my memory of the dates applicable to this report is faulty, I may have all that cronicled in my files but did not dig out to do this report. I bought this house March 2004 and I believe I might have even contacted contractor as early as June or July of that same year.