ELH Construction

Excellent communication in the beginning as we discussed how and when work would get started and the timing since some of the work like painting we were doing our selves. Our family was expecting our first child in August and we closed on the house in May. There was a very large Baby Shower taking place in late June that Erik stated the work would be done by. We closed 4 days later than scheduled on the house and that is where problems started: Work started 10 days later than scheduled even though we only closed 4 days later. Erik had initially stated that the kitchen would be ready for us to paint before floors cabinets etc would go in but he was still laying drywall 1 week before this big party and then we offered to pay him to paint to get it done but weeks after the party we just did it ourselves. He did work very hard to make sure that the kitchen had working appliances for the party and this meant he worked some weekends and very late nights just before the party. We were extremely grateful since we had to feed all these people somehow. Even then we worked right along side him. We installed the refridgerator at 10am and the shower began at noon. And then he disappeared until July. All summer he kept talking about another job that was much more lucrative and that payments were slow coming through our loan which we had no control over. But he would say he was coming to do work, so we would lock our cats in a bedroom all day, and then he would not show or even call. He came in no more than one day a week and there were still several things left to do. He also left a trailer full of garbage that needed to go to the dump in front of our house for weeks... I'm sure the new neighbors loved that. When he was there we heard lots of dirty jokes and he smoked on our property although there was an expecting mother living here. We tried not to complain since we really just wanted everything finished as soon as possible and didn't want any more problems! If delays happen that is to be expected but this work was promised by June 22nd and it was like September or October when it was "done". He was so disorganized that he didn't even know what was in his bid and what wasn't as installing appliances was his responsibility and he had us install some of the appliances. He made a phone call when his concrete guys showed up to change how the patio would be laid and told us it would be cheaper for more square footage. We approved that over the phone (which was our own fault) and when we got home what was poured was not usable space. When problems would arise and he would discuss the solution with us he would tell us "its just the cost of doing business" and "no problem - I should have looked more carefully at what was in the bid, you just never know" and then he presented us with a list of charges! As we went through this list it wasn't even accurate. He never did any of the paperwork required by the loan to use contingency money even though that was brought up several times. We had discussed what we would use the contingency for and then he basically told us he wouldn't do that work until he got paid for some of the "extras" on the list of charges he presented. He informed us he was "p***** off and thought we were better people than that". We asked him to leave. We changed the locks and had someone else do the contingency work after the way he spoke to us in our own home. We had had enough. When he found out, he called up cursing us and then a few minutes later called back and wished us well. The thing is some of the charges on his list were for things that we discovered he never finished long after the fact. When winter came, heating vents were not hooked up in the kitchen. Trim was never put up around all the new cabinets - just some. The wood flooring was installed going different directions in different rooms. Trim is missing at some doorways where flooring was installed but not all. There were gaps never addressed and some drywall issues. We had to finish several things on our own with a new baby in the house! We certainly weren't invite him back to clean up his mess. After the way he behaved we didn't want him in our home.