Green Dog Construction LLC

We hired Green Dog Construction (Dave Weaver) for plumbing work to be performed on a home renovation project in April of 2010 and we were very pleased with the result of the project and his work. When we started our next project, we decided to use Dave on that project as well, however; Dave's behavior and work ethic was dramatically different. At first he was there working several days a week and things were going well, however; half way through the project his time coming to work dropped off and we had to keep calling to see when he would return. Calls were not returned and so we made more calls to him. When he would arrive, it would be an hour or better later than he would say, always at the end of the day and he would only be able to work for two or so hours. Work he said was completed wasn't and so he would need to come back. The real issues began when he presented his invoice. The original invoice was dated 6/22/11 and hand delivered on that same day. It was very obvious, Dave came with an attitude that day. He made several personal insults to me regarding my spouse and how our project had taken him away from his family time. Trying hard to overlook his remarks, I turned our focus to the real issue, his invoice. At the top of the invoice, in hand writing, Dave noted hours worked from January through June for a total hours of 37 hrs. It is important to note, no hours for the month of January should have been recorded on the invoice for the purchase date of the property was 2/3 and plumbing work did not begin until 2/14. During the project, we discussed Dave's labor rate on three separate occasions and during each of those discussions, never was there mention of a need to increase the rate. The first time learning of the increased rate was upon receipt of the invoice and it was Dave who stated that the discrepancy was due to the change in his labor rate. When asking him why he changed his rate without discussing it with us, he said, you're getting a great deal, any other plumber wouldn't even touch this job for what I'm charging you. Completely on the defensive. In addition to the labor, the invoice noted the cost of supplies purchased, however; no backup of those purchases were provided. We asked Dave to provide copies of the receipts for the materials purchased, a request we did not seem unfounded and Dave said it would not be a problem as long as it was okay to work off of copies rather than the originals, which was fine with us. Almost right after the discussion for the copies of receipts, Dave crossed through the "Total Labor" and the "Total Balance Due" on the invoice and asked for us to reimburse him for the cost of the supplies only. Since we do not conduct business of reimbursing for supplies only and felt it only fair to have time to review the receipts before procession the invoice for payment. Dave stated again, "just pay me for the materials, and never mind everything else." We left it that he would provide the receipts and we would pay him after reviewing everything. Four (4) business days later, Dave called in the morning to discuss the invoice and to see if we had time to review everything. Since he still hadn't provided us copies of the receipts, we were not able to review it and asked him again if he could email them. The conversation seemed pleasant and he said he would get them to us before the day was out. At 10:45 pm that same day, we received the email from Dave, however it wasn't of just the receipts, a revised invoice was also attached along with a scathing letter stating that we have forced him to consult with an Attorney regarding this matter and that the additional charges on the invoice now include all labor costs, without discounts, Attorney's fees, and for time spent away from his wife while working on our project. He increased the invoice by $455 and said, if the new total amount due was not received in full on June 30, he was going to place a lien on our property. He also noted to us that all interest and any additional legal fees he was to incur from this matter would be payable by us. Needless to say, we were shocked by his extremely unprofessional behavior. We tried to set up meetings with him to discuss the matter to no avail. He would not talk with us on the phone or meet with us. We researched all the receipts he provided and found he was charging us for material not used on our project. When we tried to discuss this with him, he denied it. We told him we wanted to pay him for what we believed was fair. We offered to pay for only for the material used on our project and for the labor rate that was agreed to, but he wouldn't have any part of that and continued to not cooperated with us to resolve this matter in a professional way. Because Dave has business relations with others in our family, he discussed this matter with them and tried to get them to pay for our invoice, completely unbeknownst to us. It was Dave that made sure we knew his conversations with our family members which only outraged us more over this matter. After learning of this newest deceit, we felt it was in our best interest to consult with an attorney. It was our attorney's advise to pay this unstable person off and walk away. Reluctantly, this is what we did and chalked the situation up to a very bad lesson learned! Here is what we learned and want you all to know as well: 1. Always get everything in writing 2. Find out what the payment terms are for the contractor you are using (NO PAYMENT TERMS WERE EVER STATED WITH THIS CONTRACTOR) 3. Make sure that your contract clearly states you want to see all receipts for materials purchased 4. Make sure your contractor is certified to be completing the work you have hired him for