L Eric Marcus Construction

Description of Work: We had a pipe burst under our kitchen sink January 2012. This filled the entire downstairs of our house with about two inches of water. We had to replace all flooring (carpet) and bottom kitchen cabinets. An insurance claim was filed, and I was recommended to Eric Marcus by someone at work who had their kitchen floor re-tiled by him. He came to look at the damage and give us an estimate so we could submit to insurance. At this point, Servpro had ripped up all floors so there was nothing but concrete. It took Eric almost a month to even provide us a usable estimate we could submit. He simply typed the estimate in Word and it was very unprofessional and lacking in detail. After multiple revisions requested by our adjustor, we finally had an agreement approved and work could begin. All correspondence with Eric was extremely slow. It would take two weeks for him to get in touch with his suppliers and get back with us. He did not do any work himself, all of it was outsourced and therefore very difficult to speak with him about what was actually going on. He said he could get a discount on flooring if we would pick out the style we wanted. He then ordered from Lumber Liquidators. The flooring is very low quality and scratches easily. Based on the amount we got from insurance, he paid approximately $2400 for hardwood flooring and quarter round, and received $4000 in labor. This is almost $4.40/square foot. That is an extremely high labor charge. He also said that he would have to re-paint the walls due to flooring installation. We had already paid for our walls to be professionally painted when we bought our house. We had to have him (his workers) come back at least 3 times to re-paint because the quality was so poor. It was uneven and messy and looked horrible. He also took out our entire bottom row of cabinets, when meant our appliances and sink before flooring was installed. He then said it would be 3 to 4 weeks for cabinets to come in. So we were unable to use our kitchen for over a month. We have a two year old son and I was pregnant at the time. This was a huge inconvenience. Since he knew the entire amount we were getting from insurance, he charged us very high for every item needed. This was a big renovation, and I don't think he was prepared for all of the work involved. Work was finally completed in May, after various follow-up visits to fix things that were not satisfactory. This is FIVE MONTHS after the water damage occurred. Replacing flooring and kitchen cabinets/counter tops. Then, when our dishwasher was re-installed by his plumber, the door springs were not attached. Now when I open the dishwasher, it falls and slams down very heavily. This is extremely dangerous with two young children who could easily hurt themselves if it were to land on them. At first he told me if I would buy the part he would replace. I told him that since I did not break the part I would not pay for it. He agreed to pay for it, and never did. I e-mailed and called him almost daily and his response was something like "I will do it tomorrow." It is now JANUARY 2013 and he still has not ordered this part! He is extremely unprofessional and I am so disappointed with his customer service. I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and now with Angie's List. He accused me of unfairly withholding his final payment, so I went ahead and gave him the check, and now I can't get in touch with him to save my life. I leave messages and send e-mails with no response. I am truly mad that he got paid $15,000 and can't pay $50 for something that HE BROKE and is a danger to my children's safety. Also, he told me that my dishwasher had been discontinued and the part was no longer available. So I called myself, and was told that the dishwasher was NOT discontinued. So I got the part# needed and e-mailed it to him, along with a discount code for free shipping. He then waited a month to order, and let me know at that time that the part was out of stock. I monitored this and when it was back in stock, sent it to him again. There is no excuse for him not to fix this. I will continue to contact him until he does his job, and if anyone asks me for a reference I will tell them about his horrible customer service and extreme lack of professionalism. Also, he is a fireman, so he only works when he has off time. And if decides to go on a vacation, don't expect any work to be done on your house for a week while he is gone and you are stuck with no kitchen and concrete flooring. Horrible, horrible experience and I truly wish I had gone with the contractor my insurance company recommended.