Michael Pennetta

We hired Michael to do a few odd jobs and they were done well and on time. Prior to moving back into our home we had a number of projects that he bid on and assured us that he could be completed by our move in date as his business was slow and he could focus full time on our remodel. Included in his estimate were time frames, payment stages & material costs which he asked be paid up front on. Once the initial payment was made including the cost for all materials the bottom dropped out. Bathroom remodel was supposed to have been a 3-4 day job to be started December 7th, he started it February 23rd and has yet to complete or return calls as to where the new tub, shower and hardware are as of Aprl 11th. Only the flooring was done when we returned from renting a hotel room the weekend we were to be without our only bathroom, old bathtub was "temporarily" replaced and is still cut out away from the wall. The 1-2 week garage conversion took 3 months and went thousands over budget and even after many requests he failed to produce receipts. Michael would vanish for days/weeks before reappearing with a never ending list of excuses usually to request more money in order to finish stages that he had already been paid for. At this point we are still attempting to contact him almost daily in order to obtain the almost $2,000 in materials that we paid for and he has yet to provide in addition to items that he mistakenly removed from our property.

Michael is a good guy who fails to communicate sometimes and simply disappears every once in a while. He also makes mistakes sometimes and does not "own" them. Everything started fine. . .and the 1st half of the project went smoothly. But then he just started disappearing . . .sometimes for a few hours and then for six days. My guess is that he had another job . . .and kept us waiting to finish the other job. When he did return I had actually started finishing the job myself. . .he simply did not return phone calls. He came back and finished most of the project. . .but then got in a car accident and then disappeared again. I had to finish the plumbing for the sink, fix the electrical outlets, fix the new fan. etc.. When installing the sink drain I discovered that Michael had apparently used latex caulk instead of 100% silicone. . .which is why the darned thing kept leaking. I probably spent 8 hours working on a project that we paid $3700 to have done. For example, I applied the grout sealer etc.etc.etc. We have also noticed that many of the tiles in the surround are chipped. . .or simply not cut straight so they line up with other tiles . . .this is obvious in the corners (we covered up these flaws by installing two shower caddies). Also, in the middle of the job, somehow one of the porcelain floor tiles was cracked. We did not notice the crack until after the first disappearance. . . Given that there was under-floor heating, replacing the tile was a bit like an archeological dig. I did this myself. . .and when Michael returned he installed the new tile and grout. But already the grout around the new tile is failing. . .falling out. . .As noted, Michael is a nice guy, but we would not use him again (we used him for our backsplashes in the kitchen and mudroom). . . Somehow Michael took my electric saw -- it is the same brand as his -- said he would return it but never did. So on top of a generally average job I am out a saw.

At the end of our big remodel (165k) Michael was one of the workers that we trusted with further work. We needed a backsplash installed in our new kitchen and mudroom. . .Michael gave us a great bid, completed the work on time, cleaned up, and the result was outstanding. We will definitely use Michael again the future.