Shane Wadsworth

Short version: We paid Shane Wadsworth, owner of W. Construction Resources, $60,000, the FULL contract amount for a home remodel; he LEFT the job unfinished, and our house without a working, livable kitchen. The Details: We signed a contract with Shane to act as our General Contractor for our home remodel on 9-28-09. The contract was for $60,000, for the following work: addition of a bedroom, conversion of a pantry and garage space to a bathroom, and expansion of our home to create a family room and larger kitchen by removing a portion of the exterior wall and building a new wall seven feet out from the original wall, and a new roof over that portion of the house. On March 30, 2010, Shane informed me that he could not complete the project because "there is not enough money to finish the project." We had paid him ALL the money agreed upon in the contract. He was paid IN FULL, but left the following work incomplete: concrete floor only in the kitchen, dining area, laundry room, new bathroom, family room, and new bedroom; sheetrock ONLY in these same areas, with no tape, bed, texture, or paint covering it; no cabinets in place; electrical wiring in place, but no boxes to access it; no kitchen to speak of - without cabinets, countertop, or electrical outlets, there was no way to create a kitchen. The house was barely habitable. We washed dishes in the bathroom and had a microwave and refrigerator in our living room. The new part of the house, close to 600 s.f., was barely useable - concrete floors and sheetrock only. I immediately sent him emails asking to meet and discuss how we could work this out; offering to pray with him over how we could make this right; I tried contacting his pastor, who he works for in Christian Men's Network (Ed Cole, founder), and sent a certified letter. I contacted Better Business Bureau in hopes of working toward a resolution, and they contacted him, but he never responded to the BBB or me. I have all of this paperwork documented. I received only a few responses, and in each case, he claimed that all the money had been spent, and he would need an additional $13,000 to complete the project. He left the HVAC, plumber, and electrical contractors unpaid for the remainder of the work that needed to be done (with the exception of HVAC; their work was done but he paid them only $1200 of the total $6000 we paid him for them). I of course was not inclined to give another $13,000 to someone who had mismanaged $60,000. Part of the mismanagement was that he paid himself more than he committed to. He had said his percentage was 'typically 20%' but that on 'this project I won't even make that.' I was well aware that he needed to pay himself, but part of the inability to finish the work for which he was paid was due to him paying himself his 'fee' of $12,000, which is indeed 20%, then an additional $2400/mo over 6 months for a total of over $26,000, which was FORTY PERCENT of a contract amount he said was 'very tight.' I had asked him numerous times how we were doing on money, and twice I said, "I know you and your family have to eat." I never once received a response from him that was honest about the situation until one day, after telling me the work he would be completing on the kitchen while I was at work, I came home to find all his tools and equipment were gone. I never saw him again; he simply sent the email indicating he would not finish the job. We ended up taking another $9000 out of savings and working very creatively to make the house liveable. In addition to having to now serve as my own general contractor - which I was ill-equipped to do, having paid someone to be that expert FOR me - he had done some of the work in a very shoddy manner. His unacceptable work included: The sheetrock was done so poorly the tape/texture guy had to spend days trying to cover up the errors, which included Shane having placed the unbeveled edge of the sheetrock panels next to a beveled edges, and using two different thickness of sheetrock. It was a disaster and looked like an amateur who had never handled sheet rock had performed the work. Shane had done it with his son. The electrical was another disaster: EVERY SINGLE WIRE in the kitchen and family room had been nicked by the saw when he and his son were cutting the electrical boxes, and had to be repaired. One of the wires was unsalvagable, and I had to just forego using that box location. The texture he applied in the bedroom was a mess - unlike anything the tape/texture guy had seen before. He had spraymounted all the corner metal strips into place, and everyone of them bubbled. It was unsightly. Both the electrician and the tape/texture contractors were amazed at the poor quality of his work. Shane had described himself to me as an experienced builder, and told me he would not do any of the work he was not capable of doing. But he did. I want to caution anyone considering a home remodel NOT to entrust Shane to be your General Contractor. I would not make any financial arrangement with him other than on a subcontractor basis, where the person is paid after the work is completed. All of the subs I hired, to finish what Shane did not, worked under this arrangement. I had to hire a framer to finish the pantry and the trim work; a tape/texture person, electrician, plumber, and general handyman. I may never be paid back for what he stole from us - not only the inconvenience and the time he stole by putting us through this, but the $9000 extra we had to find to just make the house liveable and able to pass city inspection. But I CAN get the word out to others to caution them and learn from my mistake. I made a huge mistake by paying him the last few thousand dollars just one week after getting out of the hospital from a heart attack. Shane sat at my dinner table and convinced me that, because this was a 'pay-as-you-go' project, I could not withhold any of the funds, he needed them. He specifically stated he would be buying flooring. Two weeks later, he was gone. The only flooring he left me with was the concrete. He is a dad and needs to work to provide for his family, BUT, he should not be entrusted with large sums of money upfront. He could possibly be hired to do framework, demolition, and similar. I don't believe I would hire him to do sheetrock installation or tape/texture. Yes, he needs to work; he has a family. But NO, you should not entrust him with the responsibility and the funds to be your General Contractor. I trust God will lead him to other jobs suitable for him, but the lesson from my experience is, do not pay him large sums of money ahead of time. In fact, I have concluded that ANY contract with a General Contractor should stipulate in writing that all materials will be paid for when they are delivered and a receipt produced; all subcontractors will be paid directly (not to the GC) when the work is completed and an invoice provided; that the GC will receive 20% upfront, 70% paid in incremental progress payments, and the final 10% withheld until the final punch list is completed. I am wiser now and that is how I would recommend you structure your contract. If the GC won't agree to that, find another one. I wish I had.