Hooten Homes LLC

Do not consider this company for your home improvement needs. When the owners of Hooten Homes got as much money as they could out of our job, they took the money and ran without honoring their contract. They took 89% of our loan funding that we had for this project and they completed no more than 60% of the contracted job before quitting. If that isn’t fraud then I don’t know what is. In addition to the loan proceeds that they were getting disbursed to them, we also identified additions that were not in the contract that we paid for out of pocket. We paid them an additional $7,611 for these items and most of them did not get completed. They came to us in June and asked for an additional $28,000 to complete our project. We would not agree to pay this amount for them to honor their contract, however we did offer additional funds. They should have been upfront with us on their estimate to begin with rather than low balling to get the work with the assumption that they could ask for this large amount later down the road. Here is a look on the timeline on our project that they said would take 3 months. They started in January with the framing of our basement. They moved upstairs in Mid-January to demo our kitchen and start on the upstairs work. At this point, my family moved out while they worked on our main living area. We were supposed to be out for a maximum of 3 weeks. This was on January 18th. 2 months later and still not in our house, we left for a spring break trip and were told that the 1st floor would be done by the time we got back. We got back and almost nothing was done that week except for some work on our fireplace. At this point we had to move home and we were living in a house with no bathroom on the first floor, no appliances hooked up in the kitchen, no counter tops installed, and no running water in the kitchen. It was a total mess. Hooten Homes ownership informed us of a bad dealing they had and that they needed space to order to dig out of a hole. Over the next 3 months we probably had a total of 20 hours worked at our house. We respected them and gave them space for as long as our patience allowed during this 3 months. We started to put more pressure on them to show up. They always said the same thing from April until July. They said we are really close to being able to come finish your job. They claimed that they had a job and they needed some of their tools at my house so they came and got their tools on a Friday. It was easy to see at this point that they had no intention of coming back to honor their contract. They informed us on the following Tuesday that they quit after we asked them if we needed to hire an attorney to help move this project along after it hadn’t had any progress in over 3 months. Needless to say, leaving was their intention all along as he was looking for any reason to leave during their 3 month absence and he thought us suggesting an attorney was his way he could act offended and quit. It was lower than low. They made huge mistakes throughout our project. Here are some to serve as warnings: * The salesperson never documented what was designed. As a result, at almost every detail he acted like he didn’t know what we were talking about. They would deliver items and it was nothing like we had originally planned. We got so frustrated with this that we conceded a lot of our asks. This lack of attention to detail led to many mistakes and they did not deliver what was promised during the design. * The flooring that we picked out was not ordered. We found out 3 days before the flooring was supposed to be installed that the order was never placed. When he called to order it he found out that the flooring we picked would not have been ready for 2 months as it was on backorder. We had to scramble to re-select a floor and once again compromised and had to get something that was in stock so we wouldn't have been out 2 more months. * They failed to protect my driveway from the dumpster delivery. Most contractors will put down wood on the driveway to prevent damage from the heavy truck. They did not so the result is a badly damaged driveway that will be very costly to repair. * They did not measure our powder room correctly so after demolition and framing, they discovered their mistake and then charged us to rip it down and put back the way it originally was to begin with. Wasted time and money. * The tile flooring that they installed was not leveled first so the grout and integrity of the tile is compromised. * They cut notches in the basement floor joists which is a major code violation. The plumbers witnessed them doing this and told them that it wouldn’t pass inspection and compromises the floor integrity. This lack of knowledge is troubling from so-called “professionals”. * They installed our kitchen cabinets in February and did not include the shelving in several of these cabinets. I complained, took pictures, and asked on numerous occasions to get the shelves for our kitchen. We were told that they had been ordered. In JULY (5 months later) after they quit I called the cabinet company directly to get these shelves and I was told that they never contacted them about our missing shelves. This company had the shelves to us 10 days later. Again another example of their lies and lack of attention to their customers. * They partially installed our basement windows. When the windows were installed you could see outside around all the edges of the windows. In fact, one of them was even broken. The least they could have done was install the windows correctly so our home was protected against the outside elements. * They left garbage, supplies, and cigarette butts all over my property. We asked them so many times to dispose of the cigarettes properly yet they always managed to be in my yard and driveway. List of Items left unfinished by Hooten Homes that were part of our contract (partial list) : * Basement- they completed 95% of the framing and partially installed the windows. Everything else was unfinished and my basement was more usable before than it was when they quit. As part of the basement, we paid them extra to build bookshelves, install new windows, and move some plumbing. All of this was paid out of pocket and not completed. This was 10% complete * We paid extra for our tile backsplash in our kitchen. This is 70% complete. * We paid extra for the lighting and shelving in our living room. This is 95% complete. * There are large sections of trim and painting on our first floor that is not completed. * Our stairs were stripped of all carpet. * There are holes in walls and patchwork needed on the walls and baseboards. * They did not complete the stone on our fireplace and the trim around the base. * They never re-installed our floor outlets, our smoke detectors, our doorbell, or our pantry light. * They did not complete the tiling in our bathroom per the contract. This is not an all-inclusive list and I would encourage anyone thinking of using them to contact us if they needed any more details. I have the pictures of their work. Hooten Homes owed money on our project to many of the subs that worked on our home. We found out about these outstanding invoices by being contacted by lawyers and with certified letters threatening to file liens against our home. I contacted these companies and they all said the same thing: Hooten Homes will not return our calls or respond to our letters. This was totally unprofessional and an embarrassment. I was also informed that the owner was screaming at and acting very unprofessionally with one of our plumbers. His tough guy behavior will not get him far in this service oriented business. Since Hooten Homes walked out from our job we have been working on completing our project with other contractors. We have found out, and I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise, that many of the suppliers now refuse to do business with Hooten Homes for the exact reasons I mentioned above. I now know of other customers who he has treated similarly and taken their money only to be left with an unfinished home. All of this and more is reason enough to stay away from Hooten Homes. They are clueless when it comes to professionalism. This is evident when talking with the professionals that claim they will never do business with them again. I would encourage anybody who is considering using Hooten Homes to call and discuss with me first and I would be happy to share pictures and more details of what they left us with. This company is a horrible disaster that does not deserve your trust with one of your most valuable assets. Bottom line is that they were in way over their heads and have no ethics whatsoever.

We had the following issues: 1. Subcontractor clipped waterline during excavation which resulted in elements in our water heater burning up-needed to purchase a new water heater. 2. Concrete Sub contractor couldn't read the blueprint which resulted in a 34 inch door being put in versus the 36 inch door we requested. 3. Carpenter sub contractors didn't have materials to do their work. ie ladders, 1 nailer for 6 workmen. 4. Subcontractors would only work 4-5 hours per day and we paid for 8 hours of work. 5. Sub contractor Foreman did not know how to read blueprint. 6. Materials were never delivered in proper order, quantity and specifications. 7. When General contractor didn't pay sub contractor, sub-contractor threatened owner-physically and threatened putting a lien on our property. Police were notified! 8. Wasted material due to errors which we paid for. 9.General contractor personnel had to be instructed by owner on how to put in insulation and eave baffles. 10. Put in 1/2 inch drywall and had to be replaced because it needed to be 5/8 inch-fire rated drywall. Owner had to pay crew for removal and replacement. 11. HVAC sub contractor would not correct his mistakes on how he put in HVAC. 12. Engineering miscalculation in electrical installation. Did not follow blueprint for necessary electricity to be placed in the addition. 13. Dry wall finishing was not completed-only 2 coats applied, did not sand and painted over second coat. 14. Painting is substandard-ceiling was to be sand coated finish and swirls not completed. Ceiling paint chips are falling daily-in living room, dining room and master bedroom. 15. Completion of garage not done-drywall finishing/paint. 16. Mudding of second coats of drywall is rough, wavy. Walls not repaired-when walk thru done, blue tape placed in areas that needing fixing and they were removed by contractor and work was not done. 17. Grouting of ceramic floor was hit or miss. 18. French doors-double glazed have fingerprints on the inside of the windows. Contractor stated he would get them replaced and it was not done. 19. Window casements did not have J channel installed. The windows casements are crooked and 1/4 to 1/2 difference from top to bottom. 20. Deck not completed-Bannisters loose/wobbly with broken or missing filaments.

After getting several bids from other companies, Hooten Homes treated us like we were their family. The entire process was pleasant and painless. Gerald was very professional and nice during every step of the process. The workers were very courteous and did great work on our roof. Even when they finished the job, they sent Tim out to double check the roofing quality and to make sure that we were happy. That made us feel very comfortable about us using them again. We WILL be calling Hooten Homes for any of our future home repair needs.

Mr. Hooten entered my home on 3/15/2014 boasting his companies years of experience in remodeling homes. He stated he had refinished counter tops, remodeled homes and could actually build us a new home. 1st lie Articles of Organization show Hooten Homes began on 2/14/2014 one month earlier then when he came through my door. Mr. Hooten brought us samples the following day showing us examples of granite and explained that the refinish would give us a granite look. He said his distributor was down to only 4 colors because people were no longer refinishing their counter tops and had us select a color from the 4 granite samples. Lie 2 Mr. Hootens distributor turned out to be Home Depot. We discovered later that he purchased a $250 Rustolum Kit which anyone can buy off the shelf while leading us to believe he had an actual distributor who specialized in granite looking refinished products. He charged us $2400 dollars for the $250 kit and his labor. Mr. Hooten stated that the chemicals in the product were safe after we question him the 2nd time of sanding the product off my counter top and leaving dust through out my home. Lie 3 According to the Rustolum product you should not breath dust or fumes as it is toxic. He left my home covered in dust After the third attempt to re-do my counter tops a job that was suppose to last 3 days and turn into 1 month. Mr. Hooten had the audacity to say to me “this time we fully read the directions so we should be ok’ ” Lie 4. He told us he had experience refinishing counter tops. Had I known he was inexperienced I would have never in trusted him with the job. Mr. Hootens first attempt at refinishing our counter tops was a disaster. First of all they did not look at all like any type of granite and there was globs of finish all over the top of them and sealant streaked. The sealant was not applied correct and any time you dropped water on the counter top it left a white spot where the water was seeping through the finish. He admitted they were not correct and agreed to sand off the big globs and reapply the finish. At that point I offered him a way out suggesting that he give me half of my money back and I would go in a different direction with my counter tops. Mr. Hooten refused and wanted to make it right. Needless to say the 2 nd attempt was not correct. Again we offered that he walk away and give me half of my money back. The 3 rd attempted was a nightmare. Mr. Hooten begin sanding down the counter tops but now he was sanding the toxic sealant (again he told us it was safe) and was taken the countertops all the way down to bear bone. He did not properly ventilate the kitchen and did not properly seal off the kitchen. I started taping down plastics trying my best to keep the dust from the rest of the house. He did not seal off the air vents so when the air came on dust was blowing everywhere. I ran a shop vac out of the house into my garage to try and help clear the air. I also supplied him with a face mask as I was concerned that he was breathing the dust with no protection. Mr. Hooten was also to install a new sink in the kitchen which he had to remove in order to make his 3rd attempt to refinish the counter top. Mr. Hooten failed to turn off the water completely to the sink and instead propped a bucket under the sink. The dust was so bad from the sanding we did not go into the kitchen that evening. The next morning my wife discovered that the carpet in the dining room was all wet and full of water. We discovered that the 3 gallon bucket he had propped under the sink had turned over as he had not secured it . Not only was the carpet in the dining room full of water but water had ran and seeped through the ceiling in the office downstairs and into the bar area. When confronted Mr. Hooten inform me that he was not responsible for the damage and it was our responsibility. I guess we should have gone behind him to make sure he had done his job correctly. When he showed up I told him that we really needed to have a talk and that my wife was ready to sue him. He left saying he was going to the hardware store and did not return. I called him because I didn’t know what to do with the mess he made. He showed up with a note asking me to agree not to sue him or file a complaint against him or he would leave the job and not come back. At that point I felt trapped. If I didn’t sign the note he could say that he was trying to make the job right and I did not give him a chance to correct the job. I did sign the note stating under duress as I felt forced to get the job completed. I ask him to stay as my wife wanted to have a chat with him and had left work early to meet with him which he refused and left Mr. Hooten left my home full of dust over the weekend end and we begin as best we could to empty the kitchen and clean up the dust. Everything had to be removed from the kitchen and everything had to be wiped down. Mr. Hooten returned after the weekend to caulk the countertops. He pulled masking tape off the walls and chucks of dry wall came off. Now we not only would have to paint but patch holes. His caulk job was a disaster and he admitted he wasn’t very good at caulking. I finally stopped him as he had caulk running up the walls. I told him to just leave. As he is walking out the door I following him about 6 paces behind. I informed him that I would be filing suit for damages, I pointed to the Rustolum Box (he had forgot and left behind that is how I discovered Home Depot was his distributor) I told him I would be notify Angies List and the Better Business Bureau with a complaint. He last words to me were do what ever you want to do as he got in the truck. I had not left the garage nor did I lay a hand on Mr. Hooton. The Sheriffs Department showed up 45 minutes later stating that Mr. Hooton had accused me of assault. When Mr. Hooten was confronted with the truth he did what he does best, he lied. I ended up having to go court and the charges were dropped because Mr. Hooten failed to appear.

I had them put in a theater with a projector, screen, and blue lights mounted behind the crown molding. They installed hardwood floors throughout the theater and billiard area. They also created a wet bar with an etched mirror mounted behind the bar with a built in keg tap. They helped be choose beautiful counter tops and cabinets. They created a wonderful tile design on the floors around the bar. I also had a full bathroom with linen closet and bedroom. Everything went very smoothly and they were beyond helpful with choosing the items for my basement. They were always on time and listen to all of my wants and needs. It couldn't have turned out any better. I would highly recommend this company to anyone.