Everything that was done in my home must be repaired and/or replaced. The master shower was demo'ed and re-tiled 4 times. The shower floor was not pitched properly so he came back, chiseled a piece out of the floor, built it up with thinset, immediately grouted it while it was still wet and told me I could use it. Two months later, big chunks of grout were coming out of the floor and I could see all the way down to the concrete. Last week, I had to pay another company $4,000 to replace the shower a 5th time. All during the several months it took for the master bath remodel, I pointed out that the drain was not protected and demo debris was getting down there, but they told me this wasn't their first rodeo and the drain was fine. Sure enough, the first time I used the shower, I ended up standing in almost 3 inches of water and they had to make an emergency call to Roto Rooter.
The under-cabinet lighting under the vanity dropped off and was lying on the floor because it had been put on with painter's tape. He then rehung the light strip with clear packing tape and told me it was fixed. I was told I would have a 60" vanity with countertop cabinets but what I ended up with was a 48" vanity and two 12" cabinets stacked on top of each other, glued together and hung on the wall so tight the wood blocks holding them onto the wall, split. They lost the shelf clips so they used black screws all the way through the cabinet and into the wall to make places for the shelves, which are now basically unusable.
Every time the job superintendent set foot in my house, something else got damaged or broken. I finally had to tell them he was no longer allowed in my house. The carpenters walked out midway through the framing so all the framing was left hanging in the basement for months. Chris (the owner), told me not to hire movers to get all my belongings out of the basement and into the garage, that he would have his "$12 an hour grunt guys" move everything for me. Instead, at the end of the first day, I came home to find my belongings moved very haphazardly (it looked like they had literally be throwing it all into a big pile) to the center of the basement and a sheet of plastic draped over everything, but not secured. I asked and asked to have my belongings moved as promised to the garage and every day nothing happened, and everything got CAKED in construction dust. Rugs and paintings done by my grandmother, who is passed, were ruined, the motor in my chest freezer practically burned up. They spray painted the ceiling black (one coat, not two as quoted) and the overspray got all over everything. When I said no more work until my belongings are moved to the garage, they set the antique stove on its porcelain side and the superintendent said "What? You wanted it moved, it's moved."
5 times a van load of workers showed up at my door asking to be paid or if we knew where Chris was. Early on in the game, the carpentry supervisor walked out and the superintendent came to the house, removed all of the carpenter's belongings, left them on my front porch and then told us to either not be home or don't open the door around 4pm. The belongings were left on my porch for days until I asked to have them removed.
Twice, workers brought their children to work with them and I had to tell them that a construction jobsite (and my home) was not a place where children should be running around, and to please remove them from the premises.
In December (3 mos after the job began), I had a meeting with Chris where I presented him with two options (continue working with certified skilled trades or refund my money and remove himself from the job) and a contract to which he must agree if he wanted to continue working. He eagerly (and tearfully) signed the contract and agreed that, going forward, he would use only qualified, skilled trades. He did not abide by ANY of the terms and conditions of the amended agreement and at that point, I retained an attorney, which pursued him legally.
There was so much more, I can't even list it all. I had countless meetings with Chris (the owner) who sat thru them weeping and apologizing for ruining my life, only to continue with the same behavior the next day, claiming to others that tears "get the job done" for him. Do yourself a favor and STAY AWAY unless you want your home literally destroyed. read more