I hired Mr. Archuleta for a small to medium job involving a patio and bbq. There were signs in the project that things were not going well. I started hearing back from the neighborhood about unprofessional behavior from his employees and drinking on the site. But I was trying not to jump to judgement. Prior to the patio pour, I stated to Mr. Archuleta that the one defect that I would not tolerate was improper slope of the concrete near the foundation of the house. Mr. Archuleta told me not to worry and he would slope all the water away from the house.
Prior to the concrete pour Mr. Archuleta did not appear to be very organized. I had to keep calling him and emailing him to get him to come to the site and do the the final site prep. Most but not all was performed the day before the pour.
After the pour the whole effort went south. There were problems everywhere. The slope of the concrete was wrong, the elevations were wrong. Mr. Archuleta wanted to cut slots in the concrete to solve the problems (which would have been funny had it not been happening to me). I wanted him to demo the patio and fix the elevations and pour again. He refused. I offered to pay for the concrete twice and he refused. I tried to settle with him but we could not reach an agreement.
His work was in violation of the CA building code both for slope and weep screed clearance. I filed a claim with his bond company and the CSLB. So far the bond companies report agreed with my assessment and they have issued me a check that covers some of my damages. I expect to hear from CSLB within a couple of weeks. In my opinion, if you want to avoid trouble, avoid Archuleta construction. read more
