John Stubbs Carpentry

The job was verbally quoted to be $5 - $6 per sq ft for for framing and installation of the roof ($6475 - $7770) and "approximately" $3.5 sq ft for 720 sq ft of porches ($2520)...Maximum total $10,290. I was pleased with the bid and asked that he provide the bid in writing. Later, I emailed a copy of the panel instructions and again asked for his bid in writing. He responded that I should get the panels ($10,500) ordered. I did because I did not want to drag things further into winter and hoped to get in the dry, yet again I requested his bid. Three weeks later the panels were ready for delivery. I contacted Mr Stubbs who then sent me a material list as the panels were in route...at the bottom of the email he suddenly popped a bid of $14,600. Upset, I emailed him and asked why his bid had jumped so high. He then claimed an error in calculation and said it would be "no more" than $11,800. Knowing what I know now, it is clear that he likes to keep his bids ambiguous. Other SIP installers approximated just the installation of the panels would take 4 days, yet, Mr Stubbs installed them in just 5 hours. Soon we realized why. After reviewing the installation we could see light coming in at most seams. This was supposed to be a completely tight seal. If air is allowed to circulate within the panel system condensation builds up internally. It is meant to be a closed system. Industry wide it is known that the panels will "fail" (meaning rot) when insufficient caulk is used during installation and the industry has taken additional stop gap measures by installing tape to seams to prevent later failure in the caulk. Even the minor step of installing the tape was done improperly. They just hand pressed it down or with the boot heal and did not use a laminate roller, so the tape is loose and not air tight. The Panel factory supply of 24 tubes of caulk went completely unused! Initially John blamed the installation instructions and faulty installed splines. Yet we realized we could not complain to the manufacturer or have any kind of warranty on our roof due to the improper installation. It is unheard of to not apply caulk inside the faces of the panels as they are assembled. Further, John continued to insist that their installation instructions (though we hired him for his "experience", so he should not have only been dependent on instructions) did not include the use of caulk. Yet, on the very plans he referred to had 24 references to the caulk and the plans given to him said "Apply Sealent @ All Connecting Faces". After a lengthy email to him regarding my concerns and that he would need to provide additional labor at no cost, he texted me "Will do what it takes to do the job right". As I contacted various, installers, schools and manufacturers they were all aghast at the installation and photos we provided, and provided a barrage of costly methods to try and salvage the roof. Yet, it became clear John was resistant and seemed to be speeding up work, rather than giving us time to address the problems. He also kept saying the house needed to "breath". If we wanted the house to indiscriminately breathe, we would have paid for inexpensive stick framing! Even the boards put on the top of the walls had huge gaps for air to freely flow through. He then went and used can foam to seal. Water now pours off the roof and easily flows through these gaps and pours down the walls and into the house, though we are supposed to be in the dry. His sealing does not work as a temporary measure and will never be a permanent fix. internal walls. We need to have another roof put on top of the one (a cold roof) already installed to prevent it from rotting and $1000 worth of tape and at least another $1500 in roofing materials to try and stop some of the air leaking out and water coming in. I finally told him to stop work as it seemed he was making things harder to correct by continuing to work. I had already paid him $7000 and with the porches unfinished and the work on the underside of the panels as well as the roofing the secondary roof he was going to install for the same price. I thought it was more than generous to let him walk away. Now that I have asked him to stop work. He claims he was not going to do any of the corrective work for free and that I need to pay him an additional $2000. I now find that this contractor has a history of suing his clients and doubling his unpaid fees by placing a contractor's lien and suing clients in court.