CLAY'S CUSTOM WOODWORKING

We hired Clay's Custom Woodworking on September 14, 2012 to make all new kitchen cabinets, install tile floor, countertop and backsplash. Estimated cost of project was $13,500.00 ($14,000.00 if I purchased an additional cabinet which I cancelled). We gave him 50% on that day ($7,000.00) and $3,500.00 on October 15th, 2012 as agreed on the contract. The completion date was supposed to be November 10, 2012. I really believed Phil when he assured me he would be finished by the deadline and he told me he didn't have another job that would take him away from getting mine finished on time. I explained to him that I had just finished chemo, mastectomy and radiation and still didn't feel that well so it was extremely important to me to get the work done in a timely manner to be able to use my kitchen. If I had known how long it was going to take, I would never have hired him & I blame my "chemo" brain for thinking his word was good...bad judgment on my part. We visited his shop several times - one visit was to see how much he had done on our cabinets and found he had done very little. He lead me to believe he had a "crew" to help do the work which would have made it faster but the truth was he had one employee. When he didn't get the kitchen finished by the deadline of November 10th, he promised us we would have our kitchen back for our family before Thanksgiving but there were some days he didn't even show up to do any work. From the day of demolition of my kitchen, my husband and I used the back room of our house as a kitchen with a microwave, table and coffee pot for three months. During this time, the dishwasher had leaked and a piece of the floor had rotted out and he patched it. His worker cut through the subfloor leaving a weak spot that would eventually fall through so we had to pay someone else $400.00 to tear out what his employee had done and replace that area of the kitchen floor. Phil had more excuses than anyone I have ever met and nothing was ever "his" fault. The week of December 14th, 2012, we finally told him to finish our cabinets and leave & we would get our son to install the floor tile and backsplash. He completed our cabinets and countertop within two days but the countertop has scratches all over it and dips where the sanding wasn't done properly. Also, some of the knobs were installed and out of line, some areas were not stained & several cabinets were not made as I had instructed on the contract. On December 14, 2012 he wanted us to pay him $2,000.00 more and my husband agreed to $1,500.00 for a total of $12,000.00 which was more than I would have given him. At that point, the money wasn't important - closure was. Phil signed the contract as paid in full & left. My son & son-in-law installed the tile and backsplash. Even though my kitchen isn't what I had dreamed of, the day I hired Phil Clay was the beginning of a nightmare that I will never forget & very thankful it's over. I pray that he doesn't do this to anyone else...

Our house was slower to start than we anticipated due to misc reasons (loan delayed, inspections,weather etc). During this time we tried to get Phillip Clay engaged on plans and decisions on paint colors and types of woods but he kept assuring us we had time. Phillip was agreeable to making sample doors before final decisions, although this was always a slow process. We visited his shop a couple times and it didn't seem like he had made much progress. When the builder was ready for Philip to measure, around Labor Day, Phillip still seemed in no hurry to get started. He asked us for another 1/4 of the money. We stupidly agreed. At that time, he had 3/4 of the money for the job and we had no cabinets in the house. Unfortunately, Phillip has not met one single deadline. We now see that he doesn't work with plans and just wants to wing it on his own time. This may work for a small remodel job but we have a whole house dependant on each part. He was suppose to do the first install of cabinets at the end of November. We are at the end of March and he still has not completed the job. He is barely half done and it has been like pulling teeth to get this far. He finally installed the base cabinets several weeks ago so that we could get counters and sinks installed but it is has been so piecemill and ridiculous. He shows up at the house for an hour at a time. We gave him the specs for the appliances in August and he built the stove and oven cabinets the wrong size. We currrently have no doors, drawers, pullouts, trim pieces, or base molding on anything. That was all suppose to happen tomorrow, but once again he has called and said he will not be here. We are at our wits end. He is holding up so many people. He doesn't communicate with us. We are at his mercy to complete the job. This is our dream home and we are nearing completion and Clays Cabinets is the only contractor we've had any problems with. At this point, we're not sure if he will complete the job or not.