Horstman Construction

My overall experience with Horstman was terrible. I was often at the job site and after he was fired I heard from neighbors that he would practically follow me down the driveway when I left early afternoon. He did not know what he was doing. We built an insulated concrete home and Horstman used a CHAINSAW to level out the space for the door (which was not needed); Our home did not get closed in until AUGUST, 3+ months after starting. The contractor told me SIX WEEKS. He was also going to use the chainsaw to make the slits in the soffits as he was not aware that soffits already had slits in them. He used a 16' 4x4 green timber for a post on the deck and after being gone for a week on vacation, this is all he had done on the front deck when he told us it would be done. The laminate beams were on site and Horstman had moved materials around and could not find it. The deck is approximately 8x20 with a roof over the top of it. Almost every day I was told/promised that a task would be completed by the end of the week and it was not. His framing had to be partially redone; the steps to the basement did not meet code and we had to tear down what he did and rebuild them, and a number of other tasks. He actually did not complete ONE job of what he bid on. He used my account at Boyce Lumber to purchase tools for his business, not solely for this job. I had been warned that he would ask for a draw at the end of the week. Thankfully I had been as I told him to talk to the contractor, the one who hired him, I did not give out draws. After he was gone from the job people told me they were surprised to see him on the job as he was not qualified. This included other contractors and Boyce Lumber personnel who delivered materials. I wish these people would have spoken up sooner as I could have taken steps to get him fired at the first of the job, not months later. When Horstman was fired from the job he put a lien on the house and spoke with an attorney to sue the contractor and us as he was not allowed to complete the job he was hired for. The contractor paid to release the lien and wound up paying the $2000 Horstman had yet to earn. Per the contractors advise we did not sue him as it would cost way too much money, so this guy got away with being paid in full for a job he never completed in full. We had to pay more to have our house completed and it took much longer to be completed. I had to hire another framer to complete the job Mike Horstman was hired for.

Mike Horstman showed up on the job and told me everything that he was going to be getting done and said he would be out in 3-4 weeks. Being first time home builders and myself as the general contractor, it was exciting to see the framing start. At times I would notice something that did not look right to me and question him about it. (By this time my contractor was done with his portion of the build and was on to another job.) Horstman had two helpers, one was a female that assisted with moving boards and getting them to Horstman and his other helper. I often was at the job site and Horstman was out less often than I was. I spoke to the contractor and he would talk with Horstman about being on the job site and working for what he was hired to do. At times I would go back out to the site in the afternoon and Horstman and his crew would be gone and not return. We were informed after he was dismissed from the job that he often would follow me when I left the job site. Practically every Monday Horstman would tell me what he was going to accomplish that week, of which he did not manage to do every week. I left it to his lead as to when I should have the windows and doors delivered. He would tell me that they could be delivered in a week so I would call the lumber yard to schedule a delivery. The windows and doors sat for weeks after being delivered, and since they were delivered I also had to pay for them and pay the interest on the loan for them. The day before his last day on the site he had brought another person with him to complete the job (which was against the contract that he had signed with my contractor). He told me that he was going to bring a bunch of people in and they were going to get this job done (after three months already). In talking with him I asked what his priority was, what was the first job he was going to be completing. He just kept repeating that he was bringing all these people in to get the job done. He never answered my question, even when the person with him asked him if he was going to do the windows, doors, siding, etc. first - was the same answer. That was the straw that got to me, he didn't know what he was doing. That night I called the contractor and told him to get Horstman off the job NOW. Mr. Parge felt real bad about what had happened with Horstman. At one time we had both gotten on Horstman hoping he would up and quit but he didn't. Mr. Parge and I have laughed about that a few times, we tried real hard, little did we know of Horstman's future actions. When Horstman was released from the job, he immediately filed a lien on the property claiming he did not get paid for the job. I paid the contractor and the contractor paid him. The contractor actually had paid Horstman more than I wanted him to because the job was not completed. I believe it was around $2000-$3000 he felt was due him (for a job he did not complete but he wanted all the money). Anyway, the contractor posted bond to release the lien on the house and we continued to complete the house. In place of Horstman, I hired the person who was with him the day before, Roy Carter. Roy is a person that talked like he knew what he was doing, unlike Horstman. The day before we walked through the house Roy pointed out a lot of items that needed to be done and/or corrected. Roy had to replace the stairs; complete fastening the floor beams to the frame of the house; straighten walls; complete the framing upstairs and downstairs (for one bedroom and bathroom); complete the roof and decks; install siding; complete soffats. Now mind you, I HAD ALREADY PAID FOR THIS TO BE DONE and had to pay Roy to redo/complete the work. Okay, we were continuing on and then we learned we were being sued by Horstman for non payment. He wanted $5000, which was certainly more than he was due. Mr. Parge obtained an attorney to fight this as he was also being sued. His attorney had myself and husband removed from the suit as we had paid Mr. Parge what was due him. Horstman felt he was due the money because he was not allowed to finish the job because he was dismissed. HE WAS DISMISSED BECAUSE HE WAS NOT DOING HIS JOB! The attorney advised Mr. Parge to settle with Horstman due to the costs involved by the attorney. We were led to believe that because Horstman had insurance that we would be able to make a claim for the additional costs we had to pay to complete the house. We learned this is not correct, the insurance is to cover for expenses to redo work Horstman had done. In this process Horstman also purchased tools on our lumber yard account that we were not reimbursed for. Since we did not pay him, we had no way of withholding the money to cover the expenses. I knew about one invoice he never paid us for, not about the other invoice. Horstman's complaint was he said he did not have the materials he needed to do the job. We worked very hard to insure that he had the materials needed to keep him busy. He had started putting of the soffats and quit so when he said he didn't have materials I would tell him to finish the soffats, but he said he would do them later. Whenever I would ask him to complete something he was to do as part of his job, he would tell me he'd need a change order. I was at my wits in on trying to get the man to do his job, as was the contractor who hired him. He would tell me he didn't bid high enough. I told him he had the plans to look at to make his bid and he agreed and said he had to live with it. I certainly had no sympathy for him as he wasn't getting the job done anyway! Horstman put the "boxes" for the base of the exterior lights without asking the size of the lights. Besides having the wrong size of "boxes" they were also placed too low for the lights to be effective.