Rennbrandt

Renn Jackson failed to complete the job as agreed and on time. The agreement we made and signed states that the job was a 4-5 day job and that he would finish in 4-5 days, on a Monday through Friday work week. He did not honor that agreement, and chose to do something else on certain days when he could have (and rightfully should have) been working on our landscape project. He sat down in front of my husband and I in our home on December 5th and told us that this job would take 4-5 days to complete. He signed a contract and took our first $2,000 and started two weeks later and did not mention anything about not showing up and taking off the entire workday of December 24th, December 28th or December 31st, or that he had knee problems or back problems that would prevent him from finishing the job on time. Nor did he tell us before we hired him and paid him that if was cold outside, or if one of his workers did not appear for work on a particular day, once he started, that he would just not work that day and not finish the job. He did not work on our landscape project on December 22nd because of dtizzling And nevertheless, we still paid him $500 the very next day, December 23rd, which was actually the second day he worked, not the third as agreed in the contract. He apparently works "half" days when he does come. He didn't show one receipt for materials he claim he bought. Didn't work at our house on December 24th or December 28th. It did not rain in our area either of those days and neither is a legal holiday. He texted my husband and gave no reason for not coming the 28th. He came day three on the Dec. 29 and put in a few lights but it wasn't enough. We found out from another contractor that he put our sprinkler system in wrong and how we have jto pay money for them to fix his mistake. . He left us with the acid stain half done and trash in our yard. He charged us ridiculous prices and never completed the work. He continuously made promises to complete the work on certain days and wouldn't show up. we tried to resolve the issue but it's clear this man isn't capable of being a professional or taking responsibility.

Initially, Renn was very passionate about the design of my backyard. He listened to my concerns and had some solid ideas. After the design phase was complete he mentioned he also installs his designs and it works out better if he (and his crew) do the work because he's the one that did the design. Unfortunately, I agreed and commissioned him to do the work. (I will find out later that Renn is NOT a licensed contractor and already had several unhappy customers, complaints, and unfinished work). Renn provided a schedule for both work and payment broken down into weekly milestones. The total job was scheduled to take 3 months. He then asked for an upfront payment of about 20% of the total job (I later found out that this is illegal in CA, contractors can only ask for up to 10% of cost of materials/labor upfront). As time went on, my payments were on schedule but Renn's work was well behind schedule. Before I noticed I had already paid for 95% of the job but the job wasn't even 50% complete. Coincidentally, when I mentioned this to Renn and said I would not pay anymore money until the job is complete, he stopped showing up regularly, followed by excuse after excuse on why the work/schedule was delayed. Materials were ordered but not paid for which caused material companies to put liens on my house. To this day I still have a $4k lien on my property for material Renn ordered but did not pay for, even though I gave him the money well in advance of his purchase. Fast forward 6 months from project start date; job 50% complete, pay 95% complete and no end in site. Renn was showing up once a week to do little odds and ends but no real progress was being made. I fired Renn and filed a complaint with California State License Board. I hired another licensed contractor (friend referral) and my entire backyard was completed in a matter of weeks. I learned a lot from this ordeal (mistakes on my part regarding paying up front), but I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH THAT I WOULD NEVER HIRE THIS PERSON FOR ANYTHING EVER AGAIN.