Fix A Brick

How did it go? Well.. Never accept the bid of a contractor who claims he "took a bath" trying to promote an "all-you-can-drink" party during Bike Week at Sturgis, S.D. "Randy" set our alarms off early due to his unprofessional appearance and demeanor. I was concerned that he might be using substances. However, we are both forgiving and cautious people and sought additional references, including one from the biggest brick and masonry suppliers in the area. They were positive, so we thought, what the heck? And heck is what we got. Advances against work not done? Check. Showing up looking like he was still strung out from the night before? Check. Dumping unused grout and cement in our garden? Check. Failure to show when promised? Check. Work not completed within time specified. Check. And quality? Forget about it. Now, the "repairs" are all popping out and each time my dog fetches loose concrete, I am reminded that I got took. So, pass on this one. Really. This is why you joined Angie's List, to be warned off against contractors like this. You've been warned.

The bid was for $775.00, which I thought was way too high to begin with but he was very eager to get the job done so I hired him. He found a couple bee's nests inside the chimney and instead of having me call an exterminator, he said he would take care of them himself. After a couple weeks, they were still flying around and in my house. I spent every night and morning cleaning up dead and live bees for over two weeks. On top of that, he did not do the job he bid. He did not replace the caps, he did not fill all the areas he was supposed to fill, and the areas he did fill were VERY sloppy and incomplete. The yard was a mess with his garbage from his vehicle and there were chunks of mortar and caulking all over the roof, in the gutters, and in the yard. I have never had such a horrible professional service and the way he handled himself was appalling. I had contacted a couple other people to check out his work to confirm my thoughts about the job and they thought it was worse than I did. He harassed me for a week to get his money and came to my door one day while I was in the shower and pounded on the door and rang my doorbell for almost ten minutes. When I came to the door he looked like he had crawled out of a hole from a week earlier and was extremely jittery and argumentative. I had documented all the problems and had witnesses so when I told him I would give him $300.00 he tried to backtrack and tell me he would come back and fix the problems. He also threatened that he could 'take down" everything he had done on the job. As soon as I threatened him to either take the $300.00 or take me to court, he took the money and accused me of "playing him" for the job. One thing I learned from this experience is that good businessmen are busy and do not have time to the jobs immediately, and he started the next day after the bid. I had a bad feeling about the job from the beginning and I should have fired him right away when he insisted on taking care of the bees.