Expert Builder Inc

It became clear that Expert Builders never performed work in the city of West Covina after many requests for references, Simon Sage admitted to when we took him to small claims court to recover the money paid for the plans. During the process, we had hoped they would provide the references before the plans were to be approved. Expert Builders did not know the process or requirements of the city and after three months, were not able to get the plans past the planning department. These were just the drawings, there were many elements missing including specs required by Building and Safety that would be required prior to issuing permits. Expert Builders were very unresponsive and we had to require all communication be n writing as they lied and would not answer questions or provide updates for weeks. In September 2012, when the project was to be completed, the architect called to say he needs to get the permits the next day as he was going out of town for a month. Knowing nothing had changed and the city will not issue permits, we terminated our agreement with Expert Builders and took them to small claims court. We won in small claims court, they appealed, set another court date which Expert Builders postponed. We appeared on the next scheduled court date but they sent someone to ask for an extension. The extension was granted but on that date Simon Sage did not appear in court and they lost their appeal. Not surprising as this is how they operated throughout the process. Made arrangements wtih Simon Sage to pay court ordered balance, he made the first 8 payments, mostly late, but has not paid December and the final payment for January is coming due. He has ignored my emails and phone messages. His response to this review does not mention their lack of response to our concerns and his employee Alex knew about the two rooms and wanted us to tell the city we would tear them down then have the work done and not do the demolition. We know this is wrong and went to the city directly to see what could be done. We would have moved forward with the job but Expert Builders was responsive to our emails and calls that we had to work with the city directly to find out what was going on and they had no idea of the process to get plans approved or permits issues. The city clerk said they would approve the drawings with minor changes but they were not done. By this time the architect told us he was leaving the country, no notice from Expert Builder. May 2014 - After collecting almost 1/3 of the court ordered monies Simon Sage (Expert Builders) stopped sending payments and did not respond to phone calls and emails. It was necessary to involve the Sheriff's Department for collection of the remaining debt. Unfortunately the bank account did not have the funds to cover the remaining $700+ due but we did get over $300. Still waiting for a reply to the most recent email regarding the unpaid balance. As of today we still do not trust contractors and the house remains untouched.....it is a sham a company likes this has to ruin it for those legitimate contractors that are in need of work.