CM-Contracting

In the beginning it went very well however that quickly turned to terrible as we began to have subcontractor issues a little over 60 days into the project. At the time our general contractor told us he had to fire a crew however we discovered later the sub walked the job due to non-payment. Per the agreement with our general contractor, we were sending weekly draws to him via electronic bank transfers. We found out much later that he was telling all subcontractors that we were not paying him. My husband and I live 2 1/2 hours from where the house was being built and we had no choice other than to rely on a general contractor for this project. We knew that it was impossible to be our own GC, especially since we are both teachers and the build began during the school year. We broke ground on 9/25/17 and I contacted the GC in early Dec 2017 regarding concerns of the subcontractors and the fact that we were already significantly over budget! I was never, ever given a straight answer about my concerns. EVER!! The response was always evasive or just non-existent. There were many times that he would ignore my emails and calls and just continue on with the project as if there were no problems. Admittedly the project did progress and despite our concerns the house was being built to our specifications. Regardless of progress we continued to have significant concerns regarding money and there began to be major discrepancies between the invoices being paid and the work actually being done. For example, in April he invoiced us upon the masonry work being completed. We paid the draw on Friday and drove to the property on Saturday to inspect only to find that not only was the work not done but the site was left in disarray and again our questions were met with evasive, BS answers. We later learned the sub walked the job for non-payment. The closer we got to summer the more promises our GC was making about the house being completed. By June the reality of the GC fraud finally came out and we learned that over $23K of monies we paid to the GC were never paid to the subcontractors for work performed. Now we are dealing with an unfinished house, attorneys, angry subcontractors, and mechanic liens while the GC just goes on with his life. Probably on to his next victim!! DO NOT EVER USE Philip Norton, CM-Contracting, in New Braunfels TX. To date he has violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Consumer Protection Act and committed civil fraud and wire fraud.