Kowalewski Construction

This matter has been resolved mutually. As a general point when working with ANY contractor; 1. Make sure you get everything in writing 2. Have an end date included in the contract. 3. Penalties for not completing the contract on time. 4. Document all conversations 5. Send emails restating what you discussed and agreed to, so you have a record. 6. Don’t work “old School” with a handshake 7. Have a lawyer review the contract.

The 6 month renovation ended up taking an additional 4 months due to Jim's lack of urgency to show up or work a full day. There were stretches of 1-3 weeks where no one stepped foot on the job sight. A normal work day is 9-4pm. He has a work crew of 1-2 men. In the beginning Jim was very polite and charming, this quickly changed when the project began. To say he is difficult to communicate with is an understatement. He is extremely bull-headed, and nothing is ever his fault. Our house is very structually sound, but he is not the best finisher. He insists on using his subcontractors, but then inflates the price significantly. He insisted on doing the electrical wiring himself, which took him 4 weeks. During that time no other work was performed on the house. In the end we ended up with a beautiful house, however it has a number of unfinished items that have yet to be fixed or completed. Instead of hiring a professional to build the stairs, he built them. We spent top dollar for our staircase and received a substandard product with unfinished oak handrails. After 4 months, he still has not returned to finish the handrails, we finally had to cover them in brown paper. We also have a powder room door on our first floor that doesn't close, it hits the front of the pedestal sink. He told us we needed to pick a new smaller sink because he wasn't going to replace or shift the door. The 5x7 room was plenty big enough for our pedestal sink and toilet, poor planning on his part in placing the door and plumbing caused the problem. This could have been a beautiful powder room for our guests, now it is unusable. There are a number of leaks that have yet to be repaired. He was under contract to install a french drain in our basement. This was never installed, and he does not want to dig into the foundation at this point. We have water that leaks into the basement exactly where the french drain should have been to catch it! He would call us at work and say he needed the tile/fixture choices that night. My husband and I would take off work to run around and make all of the decisions and email them to him the same night. Jim would not install or purchase the items for another 3-4 months, then blame the 4 month delay on not having the choices??? I asked him from the beginning to give us a timeline of when he needed certain choices so we had the option to order items if they were not in stock. He waited until the day he was installing something to buy it, and when an item was out of stock, we had to settle for a substitute because he didn't have time to order. If you decide to work with Jim I advise you to get everything in writing: penalties for not completing the contract on time, the option to choose your own subcontractor if his price is too high and document all conversations. He will insist he works "old school" with his word and a handshake, do not believe this. Throughout the project there were a few extras we came upon which were always discussed, agreed upon and invoiced. Upon the completion of the contract he presented us with an additional invoice of $20K in extras which he had never discussed or mentioned with us. Shortly after, his threats began. We are very happy to have Jim Kowalewski out of our lives and would not wish him upon our worst enemy. The few beautiful items he did provide are not worth the pain he caused in our lives for the past 10 months!