Ready 4 Repair

Awfully enough for me to have a near nervous breakdown and required 6 months for recovery and quitting my job. The work was agreed upon in February 2017 with a down payment of 33% in March 2017. Project duration was given as 2 weeks. I began filling out the paperwork for the permit myself as we agreed it would save me $500 charge to the Contractor should he do it. I asked for the contractor's license and floor plan several times. He kept forgetting it and said he'd surely get it to me before starting. The start date kept getting pushed out from the original date around the 2nd week in April to May 22, 1017. Work wasn't begun until June 6, 2017. In a flurry of opportunity and activity, the contractor told me he took care of the permits. I asked whether I'd have to pay the additional $500 he quoted me if he were to do it. He said not to worry about it. An unexpected pipe was found which added 2 days to project. The Contractor was unreliable from the start, not showing up when he said he would, several times leaving subcontractors waiting for him and sometimes not showing up at all for several days. He failed to pay the plumbing subcontractor, started doing all the work himself, tried to use the wrong shower enclosure getting another craftsman who explained it was the wrong door and put it in anyway even the the hinge was for 90 degrees in an pentagonal shower and couldn’t close and then wouldn’t pay the contractor. Eventually the contractor just stopped coming to job and didn't finish it. At that point, I sent him a certified letter to try to get him to finish the work or refund me and reimburse for having house a young lady from Tunisia who was supposed to stay in the basement. I received no reply. Then the plumber showed up at my house asking me for money, saying he hadn't been paid in full by the Contractor who owed him $1200. I told him I'd pay him half, but I wanted a contract between us such that whomever got the $1200 the plumber was owed from the Contractor would pay the other person $600. When drafting the document, I discover that the plumber's license had been revoked in January 2017. At this point, I thought I'd go to the County to get a copy of the paperwork filed by the Contractor to find out what was going on with the plumber or both of them. Evidently, when the Contractor had pulled permits for me, he failed to pull the building and electric permit, only the plumbing permit. He didn't put in his license number, gave a wrong phone number and misspelled and forged my name. Evidently the County doesn't check these things. The plumber was working for a company that did have a license, which explained the license number on the plumbing permit. After the Contractor failed to respond to another 2 letters sent certified mail, I contacted a lawyer who told me that the contractor had no assets so legally pursuing the Contractor would not help me. I paid all but $2,500 to him for the incomplete job. Since I determined the plumber’s license was revoked, I decided not to worry about paying him. I spent an additional $6000+ (i.e., $3500 more than quoted) to finally finish the bathroom which entailed tearing down a wall to demonstrate it was to code, then ripping out and redoing tiling, the shower windows, the electrical outlets and wiring which did not meet County code, the light fixture over the sink and the P-trap which leaked. I had to pay to haul about 12 cubic feet of dirt dug up to install the drainage network, the broken shower glass, carpentry debris, left over stuff. I spent about 2 months trying to pull together all the papers, receipts, communications, etc. and finally gave up. It has taken me this long to document the fiasco. As you might imagine, I’m shocked this contractor is still in your directory as though you’ve vetted him. I guess if all he’s doing is fences, it’s OK that he’s untrained in all the other areas he works and that he’s not honest. All I can say is: 1) Do listen to Angie's advice and tangibly verify your workers are licensed, vetted, bonded, honest and rated highly and 2) Do not continue with them once they violate the agreement in terms of showing up on time for work. I accept responsibility for not adhering to these 2 principles. Be better than I was.

He came out for estimate and was very responsive and knowledgable. He was scheduled to begin work on Friday but ran into issues with flooring. We exchanged flooring and he was to start Saturday 8am. We contacted him Saturday early to see how it was going and no response back. We showed up at 2pm and he was no where to be found and no work had been started. We called again and texted and he finally called back saying he was on his way. He showed up 5 minutes earlier with an excuse that he was at doctors. We told him this is unacceptable and he needs to communicate as we are paying him for services. He was supposed to be done in two days, he continued working late and each day didn't have much done. I asked where his team was and he said they were Coming by. He was very unprofessional cussing the entire time and never finishing when he said he would. Each day was longer and longer. When I asked about his team he said he would lose money if he had them. Even though his estimate was for his team and not him. Kept providing multiple excuses for why it wasn't done. I will never hire him again and would be weary of him. His work was ok but behind schedule and left a horrible mess when we finally kicked him out and finished cleaning and caulking ourselves,

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