Keenan Construction

This experience was as bad as it gets. The first payment I gave Colin Keenan was a $750 deposit on 1/31/10 for permits. Initially, things went OK. Keenan put in the mechanicals and did some siding work and framing. I was shocked to learn in April that he still hadn't gotten permits. I was told the contact he was relying on for permits left with the $1000 he gave him so we were stuck. Keenan started all this work without the necessary permits and we were forced to hire new licensed and insured electricians, HVAC, and plumbing contractors to pull the permits for us. Because of this, L & I fined us $800. Because they were pulling the permits, we were forced to allow the electricians and plumbers for finish the work which nearly doubled our costs for the electricity and plumbing. In addition, Colin Keenan had an unqualified contractor perform the HVAC work and he paid him thousands for it. Not only was none of this work to code but the system of ducts installed by Keenan's company wasn't even functional, according to three different HVAC contractors. I had purchased brand new ducts to be used for this project for several hundred dollars. Rather than using the new ducts, Colin Keenan's company simply cleaned the existing 90 year old ducts that I was paying him to replace, then stole the new ducts I bought for this project and sold them. We were forced to pay $2100 to purchase new ducts and have them installed to code. Around this time, Colin's company installed a tile shower. While the tile work looked good, the dimensions of the shower opening were not checked before installing the tiles. The whole opening was irregular and top of the opening measured 3/4" more than the bottom. This forced me to have a specially made shower door tailored to these dimensions and cost hundreds of dollars more than was budgeted. Several more months go by and Colin Keenan is showing up to work only sporadically, his workers arent getting paid, and they're showing up to work and Colin isn't there and cant be contacted. This went on for roughly 2 1/2 months. I started calling other contractors and getting quotes to finish but I couldnt afford them so I'm stuck trying to make things work with Keenan. At this point, I'm pretty much running things and the problems with Keenan's sloppy and negligent work are accumulating. The plumbing Keenan's company put in leaks. This is because the soil lines were never checked for leaks. Keenan is also drywalling the upstairs at this time. We had purchased mold resistant greenboard for the bathroom. Instead of using the greenboard in the bathroom, Colin used regular drywall in the shower and bathroom and used the greenboard for the back bedroom. This needed to be fixed. In addition, Colin's measurements for the kitchen were inaccurate and space wasnt allocated for a dishwasher or standard size refrigerator so the new cabinets for the kitchen needed to be reordered. After about 8 months of probably the worst stress I've ever been under, we finally got the last inspection and L & I lets us finish. Colin asks for $3500 which was the last payment for this project. This was to pay for the finishing materials because apparently, we had no money left for labor because the $42k I had given Colin was either mismanaged, stolen, or both. In mid September I gave Colin the money. A few weeks go by and I notice Colin isn't purchasing any finishing materials. I ask how much is left and am told that only a $1000 remains, despite not having purchased any of the materials ie. trim, doors, fixtures, paint,etc. That Saturday morning I go to the property and most of Colin's tools are gone. After getting Keenan permits, after giving him thousands more than he asked for, after giving him triple the amount of time he estimated the project would take, after facilitating inspections with L & I, we got to the point where we have only one final inspection to go. And then Colin steals the money I gave him for the finishing materials and leaves. "Your civil suit is all you're getting." This was the last comment I heard from Colin Keenan of Keenan Construction in response to my demanding my money back for $3,500 for materials I gave him to finish my project. Colin Keenan masks stealing my money by saying simply that the project went over budget. What's even better is Colin Keenan is now changing the original terms of our contract and is claiming we signed a "time and materials" contract which is absolutely ludicrous. Our contract says nothing about this. I can think of no better example of home improvement fraud than this. The total of Keenan's unfinished work is $9,500. Needless to say, Colin Keenan and I are going to court. I filed a police report and reported the $3,500 I gave Keenan for materials as stolen. There was also a light fixture that was stolen that was reported as well. I've contacted the attorney general's office and the economic crime unit. My experience with Keenan Construction was the worst case scenario. I'm scrabbling to work and save to pay for all the work Colin Keenan left unfinished. I was lied to. I was stolen from. I lost thousands and thousands of my hard-earned money. I would absolutely caution anyone thinking about using this contractor.