P&M Construction

Paul Ghilardi (dba P&M Construction in Winchester, TN) roofed my house a couple of years ago. After taking several estimates from various local roofers, I chose Paul's small business for the job. The price estimate was competitive; and Paul seemed eager to get the work. After a couple of days of work, the roof was completed. During the roofing job, some interior damage occurred when a flash thunderstorm dropped rain overnight on the unprotected roof. Although I really thought Paul was responsible for the damage, I decided to handle that repair myself to the tune of $500. Overall the finished roof looked good, so I paid the full amount -- materials and labor -- agreed upon before the job started. Paul gave me a 5 year written guarantee on his work. His parting comment was "if you ever have a probem with the roof, just give me a call and I will be there to fix it." Last year the roof developed a sporadic leak which appeared to me to come from a vent that Paul had placed in the roof directly over the area where the leak occurred. The ceiling drywall was damaged. I called Paul. After several days, he came over to the house for a quick look. His comment was that the leak did appear to come from the vent, and that he would be back to trace down the leak and fix it. That's the last I ever saw of Paul. Weeks passed. After a number of phone calls to Paul asking him when he would repair the leak, Paul finally told me that he was not going to repair the leak because he had decided that the leak was originating from the second floor siding. I argued that he had not really investigated the problem. Without looking at the interior of the roof, how could he know for sure where the leak originated? Because the vent was directly over the leak, it seemed to me to make more sense that the roof vent was the root cause of the leak. Paul essentially told me (over the phone) that my opinion did not matter. He had already decided. Then he dropped the real bomb on me. Paul stated that the business I had contracted for the roof repair (P&M Construction) no longer existed. Therefore, Paul was not responsible for the roof. Any repairs made by him to my new "guaranteed" roof would be at my expense. In hindsight, I should have contracted the roof through a more established, reputable business. Even though Paul provided references (which I checked) I realize now that the vetting process was flawed. My experience with Paul's business philosophy has made me very reluctant to hire local talent for repairs to my renovated farmhouse.