Gary D Torgerson Co

This man is a crook. Hired him on a "work at your pleasure basis" as he calls it, with no binding bid, just an initial authorization (of $15,000) for what he guesstimated the job would take. He explained that you sometimes discover problems that take more time than expected. Seemed reasonable, only during the job he kept asking me to come and look at an area that he was trying to convince me was imminent doom and needed his immediate attention to fix. He attempted to convince me that my porch was going to collapse due to rotten pillars (just replaced 4 years prior and in fine shape), or that water was leaking in a door jam and that I was going to have dry rot (pulled up carpet and bone dry). He kept talking about his personal life (how he had to put his wife into mental institution and since then became a single father putting his daughter through one of the best private schools in the city) and he repeatedly asked me about my finances and my personal life to which I realize later was his strategy for sizing me up to see if I'd make a good target. He made comments that my higher income bracket could afford me the privilege of having work done correctly by him and that if I did't pay more, I'd get shoddy work. He made some very wrong assumptions about my disposable income. His weekly invoices were vague and the numbers didn't make sense for the number of hours that the video camera system showed that the crew was in the home. When asked about some of the odd fees, (he charged me for "transport of doors to spray booth" and explained that it took time to move them from one room into the other room where they could spray them and there was a fee. Charged one hour of labor to change a door handle. I was in the room with the guy and it took him less than 10 minutes. Told me that he would order the closet doors and led me to believe they were included in the invoice listed under measurement and closet door consultation only to tell me two weeks later that they were never ordered and that the outrageous fee charged was only to DISCUSS the type of doors. The invoices had double and triple billings for the same area of work and in finality the total invoices came to over $52,000 when I had only signed an initial authorization for $15,000 and an additional change order to add $14,000 for a total of authorized charges at $29,000. When I explained that I was not expecting these additional charges of $23,000 and did not see how he could justify billing me for these outrageous amounts he said that's too bad and said that I should accept defeat and consider selling the house to pay off the lien. I have him on video telling me my charges would be one amount but then invoices say another! I suppose I'll be saving that and some other incriminating statements he made for a judge. My insurance adjustor used standard industry estimating software, Xactimate to estimate what the charges should have been to do the repairs completed and said that Gary D Torgerson Co. charged double what it should have cost to have the work done. I'm a single mom with only a $40k year income and Gary has cost me countless sleepless nights while I lay awake beating myself up for letting this man into my home and falling for his no-bid BS. Don't do it, you will forever regret it.

THE WORK WAS DONE WELL BUT WAS VERY SLOW GOING. I FELT THAT THE JOB COULD HAVE BEEN ACCOMPLISHED JUST AS WELL IN A MUCH MORE EFFICIENT WAY. WORKERS WERE VERY COURTEOUS.