tropic builders

This is a follow-up to my comment left about 3 weeks ago. I now have filed in Broward County Court against Tropic Builders Case #COSO16001110. In doing some homework his registered address on Subbiz goes to a room inside of an office in Key West which he hasn't used in years according to the other people in the office. I also did some background checks in Broward and Palm Beach County and have found that he's been sued in both counties before. I would not hire this company and/or Donald Marcus ever again. He does not offer warranties, he does not return phone calls or emails after he's been paid and to go one step further he never came out to the job site EVER. He used other's to negotiate a price, sign the contract and collect payments. I wish I did my homework BEFORE hiring them, I would have looked elsewhere.

I was referred to Tropic Builders and told "they do the best tile job around". I needed someone to install tile for my floors and shower(s) for a full remodeling project I've been working on for many months. My concrete floor was VERY bad with a lot of high and low areas so I needed to make sure that the person I hired would install the new tile with mudset and make sure it's as level as possible. I first met with a man named Eric who I later found out is related to Don the owner of Tropic. I entered in to a written agreement with Eric for a price of $14,905.00 which was to include installation of tile on the floors of my home including 2 bathrooms and shower walls, master bathroom & kitchen back splash and cost of all mortar. I paid a $2,000 deposit and the job got underway. As the job was progressing Eric realized that my concrete floors were worse than he originally thought and he kept coming to me to buy more mortar (which was included in our contract, he was complaining that he's not making enough profit and with the amount of mortar needed it was taking away any profit)... It was almost a daily issue hearing him asking for more money for mortar, some weeks he asked for 2 draws. To be fair (which I wasn't obligated to) I did buy 100 bags of mortar and the job required around 220 +/- bags when all was said and done. I'm sorry if he underbid the job. That was problem #1 Problem #2 When he showed up to the job site and my GC and I noticed he had beer on his breath.. I made mention to him and it didn't happen again. Problem #3 Eric and I entered in to a second written agreement (this agreement was signed in person by all parties) that I would withhold $2,500 on the back end until the back splash areas are done (I had to wait until the counters were installed)... Towards the end of the job he continued to ask me for more money. When I told him we signed a contract that I would withhold $2,500 at the end he was very upset and said that he didn't sign any contract and feels if he was "duped" in to this agreement. His son sent me a text at around 9:30pm one night saying that his father cannot read without glasses and that nobody read the contract out loud to him...!!! He never asked for me to read the contract to him and you shouldn't sign anything before reading and understanding what you're signing for. Needless to say when the cash flow stopped coming in so did he. Eric sent someone else out to finish the job (master shower and back splash) who then proceeded to write me an estimate for his services of $1,250.00. This was OK since I withheld money from Tropic however the new guy asked for 50% payment up front, I immediately said NO.... There is no reason to pay anyone 50% deposit upfront especially when it's only for labor not material. I feel as if I was shafted by Eric who worked under Tropic Builders GC license I will not let it happen again. This is South Florida and we all know about contractors who ask for too much money up front. I was born at night but I wasn't born last night. The guys who showed up to the job to install my floors were great and I had no issues with them, the only bad apple in this was Eric who only did the shower walls, asked for money weekly and sometimes more than once a week and cried to me about all the mortar needed. I found someone else who will finish the job and complete my shower and the back splash this coming week once the quartz counters are installed. One more point since I held $2500 on the back side of the job evidently Eric did not put enough of the $12,000 +/- aside which I paid him throughout the project. He didn't have the $800 balance to pay his flooring crew at the end of that part of the job. He came begging me for more money (to pay him from the $2500) so that he can pay his guys... I told him that his being irresponsible financially is not my concern and if he owes his crew $800 that's between him and the crew, not me. After further consideration I ended up paying the guys their $800 because they did do a really good job on my floor and it's very unfortunate they got caught in the middle of this dealing with someone like Eric who doesn't know the first thing about business, being financially responsible and/or customer service. If he played his cards right he would have gotten a lot of referral business as I'm in real estate and I have MANY clients who from time to time need home renovations. This company lost any referral from me because of one bad apple, Eric. I did speak to Don the owner and he was OK.. not overly helpful and admitted that Eric had a drinking problem.... not what I wanted to hear.... P.S. During the job I asked Eric if I can get a 1 year written warranty for the labor and received a text saying "What about a warranty? And on what? We are honorable..so is that not good enough? You asking us to ask our GC something that is going to create a possible liability for him, I'm not sure what you want a guarantee on, it's tile work".... WOW!! that's some great customer service and very professional.. NOT.. If you need any type of flooring work I would look elsewhere.