Custom Backyard Creations LLC

DO NOT HIRE THIS COMPANY! SAVE YOURSELF!! I will tell you my experience with Mike Zoma, Lawrence Zoma, and Custom Backyard Creations. This experience has been ongoing for over a year! The first meeting with Mike went fine. He showed me pictures of his work and the color chart. I picked, from the pictures, the texture design and colors I wanted. (I had two different patio projects.) Red flag #1: He said it was too difficult to mix two colors together. So, I picked my colors from a CoHills color chart and his photographs. Only to find out later that he switched the product to Granicrete. The first day of prep. Work; Red flag #2: He only power washed the concrete, even though in my contract it said Grind the surface and then power wash. This is important because I had both a sealed and unsealed patio surface. I know he didn't use an acid wash either, because he was out there barefoot power washing. When I asked him about the grinding, he said I only needed a power wash. The next day he came to do the overlay. Red flag #3: There was rain in the forecast for that afternoon and he said it would be ok. Red flag # 4: He said it was too cold to stain my front walk and I would need to pay more and put an overlay down if I wanted to stain the front. Red flag #5: He said it was too cold to do the texture pattern I picked out, so he was going to do this "cake frosting" pattern instead. He didn't show me any pictures of this "cake frosting" pattern. I brought him inside to show him the tile in our house. The tile is Italian slate with smooth grooves and a rock-like appearance. I said if "cake frosting" looks like this tile - I'm ok with that. He said yes, it's like the tile. (It didn't look anything like my tile. Plus, the rain created a grid pattern, from the folds in the tarps, on the overlay.) Red Flag #6: I pointed out these tarp marks to Mike and he acted like he couldn't see them (they were grey marks on white overlay) and he just continued to color over them and ignore me. Red flag #7: He didn't have a barricade for the front entrance, I had to use my own saw horses. Red flag #8: He didn't have enough tarps to cover his work from the rain, I had to give him my tarp. It started raining immediately after he finished putting down the overlay. Red Flag #9: He couldn't get the color right. Terra Cotta is not Bright Orange! I spent 20 hours researching and trying to help him fix the overlay and color problems, because he told me he didn't know how to fix it. Which leads to Red Flag #10: He pressured me into signing a waiver for him if he tries to fix the color. He was an angry little bully at this point. He broke personal property of mine, he stained the front of my house, left shoe print stains in my driveway, helped himself (without asking) to my woodshed for "weights" to hold the tarps down from the rain. In the end ... Mike quit in the middle of the job. I had to file a complaint with Registrar of Contractors (ROC). Even at the ROC inspection Mike was yelling me, in front of the inspector and my fiancé. Then, to my surprise, Lawrence joined his dad and started yelling at me too. Both of them yelling at me and calling me a liar? They were like little bullies on the playground. Mike was like an angry little kid with dementia because he could never stay with the conversation or answer any questions posed to him. He would just rant on and on about how I called him liar. That was in December and he's still angry and denying it at the end of February. Really? The inspector has all these emails, I turned them in, he already knows this. I admit it -- I believe Mike Zoma to be a liar! Not only did he lie to me in December, he lied to the inspector in February and March. Fortunately, it was pretty clear to the inspector that he is a liar and incompetent in his work because I won my complaint against Mike Zoma and Custom Backyard Creations. He was issued a Corrective Work Order by the ROC. All he had to do was remove all of the overlay and pay me $100.00. However, Custom Backyard Creations did not do either of these things. So, the next step was Small Claims court. Mike Zoma lied in court papers and they lied in person to the court. I won my small claims complaint against Mike Zoma and Custom Backyard Creations. Case Number: CC2013 133872SC. Mr. Zoma owes me $1,833.16, plus an additional $119.00 in fees and costs from the Writ, because Mr. Zoma will not pay me. Mr. Zoma then retaliated against me and filed a small claim on me -- in which he lost. Case Number: CC 2013 183533SC So, this is word of caution -- if Mike was showing his true colors and yelling at a woman for no reason in front of an inspector and her fiancé .....imagine how I felt being alone with him on the job site. That is why I asked him to only communicate with me in emails. He is a scary little man when he's angry. I don't think any woman should deal with him on a one to one basis. I didn't have to say anything to the ROC inspector. The crappy work Mike did - spoke for itself. The two of them yelling at me in front of the inspector - spoke volumes to their character. They made themselves look like belligerent obstinate fools. I didn't have to say anything -- they discredited themselves by being Hostile, Aggressive, Absurd, Rude, Disrespectful, Pigheaded, Little Bullies -- not to mention the crappy overlay application, horrible color outcome, and obvious lies. To Lawrence: Shame on you as a business owner for permitting your father to "speak" (shout and bully), to your customer in that manner. Shame on you for permitting your father to "speak" to the ROC inspector in the same manner. Shame on you for not accepting responsibility for your father's poor workmanship, poor attitude, poor conduct and the whole bad experience we had with your company. Did it ever occur to you to apologize for any of it? You never reached out to me to find out what was going on with my project and your dad. In conclusion, If you like drama, being treated poorly, and crappy work......by all means hire this guy.