Adam Collins Construction

We hired Mr. Collins after our neighbor highly recommended him as an "up and comer." He's not there yet. Our first meeting was September 2009, and he began work in January 2010. We were told that the bathroom would take "3-3.5 weeks, max." Bathroom was not completed. The kitchen was to be completed by April 1. It was not completed. The tile work in both rooms was terrible. The subway tile in the bathroom was not cut straight, extra grout was not removed, fixtures were not installed, the shower head leaks, the door and window were not painted, the walls were not smoothed, and the marble transom was removed and not replaced. He improperly grouted the floor and it has already begun to break down. He did not butter the joints of the backer boards, hence the problem. Also, he initially covered up and did not replace the electical outlets, and had the light hanging down 3/4 of the way down the mirror. I had marked where it should have been mounted. The kitchen is a more complete disaster (I have photos). The work was almost complete in May, but Mr. Collins did not show up to do any work after May 25. He never added the undercabinet lighting, the floor was crunchy (more on that in a bit), took an antique door and brass floor plate from our home (for no reason) and would not return them until I threatened legal action. We never got the blass plate back. He clearly forgot about the lighting, since he dropped off BATTERY POWERED cheap lights that attach with velcro. The paint job is TERRIBLE (Mike Beasley was the painter) and already peeling (he painted the exterior of our home as well, and this is even worse). The woodwork was not refinished as we requested. Instead totally different, mismatched pieces were added and installed unevenly. We live in an old historic home and Mr. Collins showed no respect for the old plaster and no understanding of how to level floors, smooth walls, etc. He destroyed our pantry and dining room walls during demolition and did not repair the damage. While the walls were open, we asked him and his plumber (Dobson Plumbing) to check the old pipes for cracks. We were told "they will last a hundred more years." Turns out, there were MASSIVE cracks in them, which led to major leaks and we had to redo the walls again. The cabinets are not level, the counter tops are not level, the backsplash is not level, the dishwasher face was cracked by his team, and the pulls are not mounted evenly. Also, he covered up the HVAC vents and did not add new ones, so no heat or AC in the kitchen. His suggestion was to "leave the dining room door open, the air will travel." Not. The electrical work is not to code, nor is the garbage disposal. He did not get permits, and lied to me about speaking with the inspector. We have since spoken with the inspector for our neighborhood who confirmed this to us. The kitchen floor is the worst and actually became a hazard. Mr. Collins removed old linoleum and did not clean the glue underneath. Then, he laid fiberboard backer board on top with no additional glue. Because of the gaps, MOLD is growing throughout the room in the moisture. The mastic he used (instead of concrete) to fill an extremely large floor gap has completely collapsed. The floor tiles were not laid flat and people were stubbing toes where they were sticking up. Mr. Collins did show up in May to remove a few of the offending tiles; and where the fiberboard pulled up too, he filled in the holes with mastic, which is still wet (in August). He did not attempt to fix the floor and left me with tiles to fix it myself but THEY HAD BEEN USED and still had mounds of glue on the bottom. It became obvious in June that he had no intention of returning to our home. For some reason, he kept messaging me and emailing (18 in total) with excuses ranging from "spider bit me" to "HVAC guy is out of town." In every message, he said he would be there "tomorrow for sure" or "this weekend. Promise on that." I fired him in June, but he implored me to let him finish the job, but still never showed up to finish. I have since hired a new team since the kitchen has to be re-gutted and begun again from scratch. Luckily, the cabinets and countertops themselves were not ruined, so I do not have to repurchase them. Mr. Collins clearly does not have enough experience to be handling upscale renovations. He did a lot of work himself, but he is not skilled for this. His work is sloppy and he works at a very slow pace. I consider his total blow off of the project to be proof of immaturity as well. We had concerns with the plumber and his response was "there are worse out there." Do yourself a favor and spend the extra money up front for someone with experience and talent so you don't end up spending even more later to redo everything.