MAKE AN IMPRESSION LLC

He was on time to meet us and discuss things until we gave David Mike Roberts the contract to build a stamped concrete patio of 1000 sq. ft. in my backyard with a retaining wall around the patio and steps to go out from home to patio. He did similar work for my neighbor and did a decent job. We believed that he was a trust worthy person and didn't verify whether he was a licensed contractor to work in the state of Virginia. We gave him contract and thirty percent advance in the first week of May. He promised us that he will start work during third week of May and would complete the whole work with in three weeks. He didn't start work on time and I started calling him when was he going to start work. He started giving reasons from his personal life. After calling him number of times, he started working on my patio. The first step was taking out existing lawn to prepare the lot. He dig up lawn in my backyard and asked for next thirty percent of money. This way of payment was part of contract. Though we were surprised and at the same time not sure whether paying money was a good idea or not, I said I am going to pay only after he finishes some more work. He threatened us saying that he was going to do any more work if we do not pay him next thirty percent. That was a big shock to us because typically we do not see contractors talking like that. At that point, it was clear to us that he doesn't have any customer service. He talked to my husband that he can complete the work in couple of weeks if we pay him money on time. We believed in him though we didn't like his way of talking and gave him the next 30% payment. Soon after he got the cheque, he had a family emergency and he didn't show up for 10 days. But his men came and started building retaining wall. Then he came bak to work after I started calling him on a daily basis. He picks up phone at his own will. The second step was to place gravel on the lot. He brought gravel and used his bobcat to transfer gravel from the front of my house to my backyard. He didn't take any precautionary measures to not spoil my lawn. Because he had to use bobcat to transfer gravel, one side of my lawn was spoiled. Till today that is not fixed by him though it was part of contract. This happened during last week of June. Third step is to pour in concrete. As part of this step, we have to tell him the color for stamped concrete patio. He gave us charts and we told him the colors that we wanted. We made a mistake by not getting a written statement from him. As per contract, we were supposed to give him another thirty percent of payment on the day he pours in contract. But my husband believed in him and gave him two separate cheques telling him to cash one of it and the another after he pours concrete. Surprisingly, he cashed both the cheques before he poured the concreete. One of them was a post dated cheque. He changed the date and cashed it. When we asked him about it, he gave us the reason that his girl friend made a mistake of putting in all the cheques. By this time, we realized that he lies a lot. On the day of pouring in the concrete, my husband asked him to show the color and he brought in a different color. When my husband pointed put, he got agitated and talked harshly saying that he will meet us in court. He called concrete truck company and cancelled the order. He called his men who were working in my backyard to pack up. All of this happened on a span of 20 mins and we were shocked with his way of doing things. We realized that we made an irreversible mistake and that is when we started looking in whether he was a licensed contractor!! To our surprise, he was not. He came back after a week of calling him on his phone and told us that he will complete the work. One important thing that we came to know was that stamped concrete cannot be poured when temperatures are above 90 degrees. The whole month of July was so hot that we kept looking for a good day to pour in concrete and kept calling him with this information. Around third week of July, he called us to let us know that because of his personal problems, he doesn't have money to do the work. His says that he will do the work when he gets money. We don't know when is that going to be. David Mike Roberts is not licensed by Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation(DPOR) from the state of Virginia. He claimed that he was a licensed contractor with license number 2705076525 but that was suspended on 01/23/2009 and it was expired on 06/30/2009. This information can be verified using the following online link: http://www.dpor.virginia.gov/regulantlookup/selection_input.cfm?CFID=2535559&CFTOKEN=42453885