Creative Interiors, Inc.

The provider was contracted to perform a roof replacement, replace front house posts, replace shutters, install hardwood flooring with molding for the family room, ceramic tile for the kitchen/foyer/fireplace and replace stairway and upstairs carpeting as well as clean up and haul away all debris. He required almost half of the monies up front, so I paid $4000 up front as we had scheduled the appointment for roof replacement on that coming weekend. Two other dates were set for payments of 2500 then the balance of 2000 when the work was completed. The initial payment date was 02/22/2014. Roof replacement was to occur the following week by 3/1. Unfortunately I didn't hear from him and he took several weeks to come back and perform the roof replacement after receiving payment weeks prior. On the date of the eventual roof replacement he advised that he would be providing a dumpster for the team that was coming out to perform the replacement. Not only did he not provide a dumpster, he had not delivered the roofing materials. The team contracted to do the roof, quickly removed the old materials and did all that they could do then came to a stopping point for hours sitting on my front lawn while they waited for him to arrive with shingles and replacement roofing material. Because he never delivered a dumpter, the roofing contractor was left trying to clear up the debris and load it into the back of his van. Needless to say, a mess was left and I ended up having to pay someone to come and clean up my yard as there were nails and debris and I was 8 months pregnant at the time. He showed up immediately after the roofing job to request another payment which was not yet due based on what was spelled out in the contract. I did end up giving him a check in order to continue the work. He brought samples for me to pickout a color for my flooring. I requested laminate and the contract indicated that but he advised that he would be installing wood flooring for me and had me pick from sample colors. Again, I took off work to be home and he did not show up, he called to cancel the morning of the appointment and there were other cancellations as well. Eventually he came and had some guys with him that started the laying the flooring. He and the guys arrived hours late to begin the flooring. Because of a flooding issue earlier, there was no flooring for him or his team to rip up, he only needed to lay flooring on an already clean concrete surface. To my surprise, the wood flooring that I was expecting due to his suggestion was not delivered and instead laminate was delivered. I didn't complain as it was what was initially requested. He appeared to be training the guys he had working with him to lay the flooring but aside from being late and the wrong material arriving, the floor was looking good. He monitored the flooring guys for an hour or 2 and everything looked good until he left, at that point the work of his flooring guys was very sloppy. I called him (Mr Belton) and he did eventually come back. I showed him visible gaps in the flooring where the flooring should have fit together like a puzzle but clearly wasn't installed correctly. Mr Belton denied that there was a problem with the flooring and stated that there was some professional standard that allows up to 1/8 of an inch gap when laying flooring. He also didn't include my downstairs closet in the numbers when he measured for flooring but claimed he would put carpet in there so it wouldn't just be concrete. I'm not a contractor but I know that was malarky. After Mr Belton left, my dad came by and was present the next day when they arrived to finish the flooring. Due to my dad strong arming them, they took up the flooring where the gaps started and eventually relaid the flooring correctly. Additional boxes of flooring had to be delivered as the measurements were off. They indicated that they would be putting down my molding at another time. Next, carpeting of my upstairs was to start, I'd picked a color and made another payment hoping that the work would continue. I'd taken off work and moved all of my own furniture with family to help with the carpet replacement process but yet again, delays on the part of Mr Belton. When he and the carpeting guy arrived, he reported that at pickup, he found that the carpet he selected for me had pieces cut from it and would not be enough for my flooring so the carpet guy remeasured and they went in search for alternative carpet. Due to the carpeting supply issues, I was once again rescheduled. Finally a week or so later, Mr Wesley the contractor showed backup to do the carpeting, however during the process I asked why he's not ripping up the foam underlayment as well with the old carpet and he reports that Mr Belton didn't purchase anything to go under the carpet. I immediately called Mr Belton who basically told me that he didn't purchase the padding for carpet because I didn't ask for it. I told Mr Belton well before the work that I needed carpeting as it had never been replaced and was likely over 20 years old. I had no more money to pay and ended up having new carpet laid on over 20 year old carpet padding. The carpeting contractor did confirm that my padding wasn't the worst he'd seen, especially since I never had pets. The drama continues, Mr Belton did not include my upstairs closets in his measurement numbers for carpeting and so the carpeting guy had to work piecing together remnants to make it work. The carpeting guy indicated to me that Mr Belton advised him that I wasn't paying on time which was why there were issues. Thankfully, I was able to show proof that he'd been paid twice and I even had copies of my checks. I'm thinking that he hadn't paid the contractor yet and was trying to blame me for that as well. It took him over week to lay the ceramic tile in my kitchen and foyer and fireplace area. Again, I selected from 3 samples he provided and he came back with the wrong item. Eventually he did get the tile laid and grouted which was the process with the fewest problems. Finally, he came back to finish the molding for the laminate flooring and ceramic tile. He used materials I'd previously purchased and had in my garage unused. Lastly he replaced the posts on my front patio and the shutters. He then received the final payment. I'm 100 percent sure that I am leaving out some of the issues experienced. It's been a while but I decided to still leave a review. Sadly, this gentleman (who claims to be a minister) was referred to me by a co-worker that I'd seen his work in her home. She reported no issues with him but apparently the work he did in her home was contracted 1 space at a time. The final outcome of the work was okay and looked professional despite my carpet padding not being replaced but I wouldn't wish for anyone to go through this experience which ultimately is why I'm writing the review. Part of the work done was paid for with funds from insurance as my flooring was damaged when pipes burst during winterstorm of 2014. The remaining was out of pocket. I wouldn't recommend him for more than small jobs as he is not punctual and things become drawn out an unorganized when it's a large project.