Christopher Ludolph

Christopher Ludolph gave us a verbal amount and time for our bathroom update raise two vanities, texture walls, tear out florescent light boxes over vanities – no change to the tile floors or bathtub or tile surround). When he came to measure the week before the job was to start, we asked him to also install crown molding in two bedrooms and a small sun room (8x8) and to add wood trim around two small windows in the bathroom, which he agreed to do. In addition, asked him to add quarter round in an additional bathroom downstairs which he also agreed to do. I also asked Christopher about covering the new carpet on the stairs and wood floors before work started, which he assured, would be covered. On the agreed upon start date, he called and advised the start date would be moved to the following day because his worker was not available that day. This was a precursor to what would follow. On the following day (Tues), Christopher started work and I noticed neither the carpet nor wood floors were covered. That night I purchased shoe covers and put them out the next day for them to use. Instead (Wed) they covered the carpet and floors. The next day (Thurs) – neither the carpet nor wood floors were covered. So on Friday, I put the shoe covers back out and the carpet/wood was covered. It seemed to be a game with him. That weekend, I covered the carpet with plastic shrink wrap carpet protector and then most days the wood/carpet was covered. Some days Christopher would not show up nor would he call to advise he was not coming and yet if I called he would say he would be there “shortly” only not to show after all. The job took 3 weeks instead of 1 week. His bill was over two times what he originally estimated. When questioned he said it was due to the crown molding and window trim – over $4,000 for crown molding and window trim?? The quarter round was not completed in the downstairs bathroom. He also said the cabinet painting took longer than he anticipated. We asked why he did not give us a heads up the price was going to be more than twice his estimate but he had no response. The invoice reflected his labor @ $55 hr and his workers’ labor @ $22 by the hour. We were not aware we were paying them by the hour and when questioned why we were being charged for days they were not here – he said he or they were working in his “shop”. When my husband asked him why he did not tell us we were paying them by the hour – his reply “maybe I should have told you that”. When the job was complete, he did not replace the electrical covers to the switches or outlets nor did he put the light bulbs or shades on the lights. There was paint splatter on the toilets, bathtub and the existing tile floor. There were paint drips on the existing shutters in the bedrooms and paint drips on pictures on the wall. There were numerous places where you could see dark paint from the cabinets on the walls under the lighter wall paint. There was wall paint on the cabinets and vice versa – cabinet paint on the walls. It appeared Christopher and his assistant might need glasses. The cabinet paint appears to be the wrong paint as any slight bump to the cabinets will chip the paint. In addition, he used the box our vanity mirror was packaged in under his van that was leaking oil on our driveway. We then needed to return the mirror because it was too large for the space but the box was ruined. In addition, he left a gash in our polymer garage floor coating, which was just installed last year. I asked Christopher for the receipts we reimbursed him for his supplies and he has not provided them to me. In addition, I asked him for his SSN so I could issue him a F. 1099 which he has not provided. The law requires a Form 1099-Misc be filed for each person to whom I paid during the year at least $600 in services. He did not provide me with his SSN or TIN and he may be subject to a penalty. I have documented my due diligence in trying to secure his SSN/TIN and will send the form to IRS with or without his SSN and document that I tried to secure. In addition, he did electrical and plumbing work for which he is not licensed for either nor did he get a building permit. I contacted the City of San Antonio and confirmed that he does not have a plumber nor electrical license and had not renewed his license with the City of San Antonio. All in all we were very disappointed with Christopher Ludolph aka Christopher Remodeling LLC and would not recommend him. He was very unprofessional and unreliable. I feel his bill was excessive and completely out of line for the work he did and much less the quality of his work.