Mountain Lakes Contracting Inc.

This contractor was hired to lift a cottage and build a new first floor and walkout basement, from the beginning there were problems NO JOB OVERSITE (which is why he was hired) , FILTHY JOBSITE, NEVER LISTENING TO OWNER's WISHES, THINGS MISSING FROM HOUSE (tools, radio, ect.) , THINGS NOT DONE ON TIME (house, septic, water,ect.) THINGS DAMAGED BECAUSE NO OVERSITE (two Anderson doors damaged, screens damaged,owners fridge broke,damage to furniture, ect.) Over BUDGET (but not telling homeowners ). ORDERING MATERIALS FOR THE PROJECT THAT WERE NOT USED, NEEDED, OR RETURNED AND CREDITED BACK TO OWNERS (extension door and window jams). Parts of existing cottage that were to be retained for later use were thrown out or burned by Mr. Jones (existing ceiling beams). Starting with foundation, the day the foundation was going in Mr. Jones was not even on site, we had to write a check to the subcontractor before he would pour and we had to tell him there was a fireplace in the basement he wasn't aware of. To top it off the foundation ended up being out of square causing the basement stairway to be narrower because this was corrected in the framing and there was not enough concrete ordered resulting in a cold joint diagonally across the wall. NOT REDONE. Screened in porch cement wall was not poured at this time as request by homeowners resulting in the wall being pour later with problems, wall was 2' short and had to be added on to later. The lifter had to be called back to lift the house higher causing delays because Mr. Jones didn't lift house high enough to perform work. When the lifter came back to put house back down, the lifter and Mr. Jones got in an arguement over how to do it, at which time the homeowner stepped in to mediated a solution. We asked for the roof to be stripped and done while on the ground (easier job) Mr. Jones response ignore the homeowners and lifted the building, building in air, roof stripped, builder gets sick leaves building with just plywood on roof for over a month, resulting in water damage to existing cottage we are trying to preserve! Then he decides to higher a ROOFING COMPANY TO DO IT! , Why not before the damage was done? Septic system was to be installed immediatley after home was down (home down by beginning of Octobor) . Mr. Jones had a fight with the installer hired and the installer quit November 3, 2009 (one of the warmest Novembers on record), Mr. Jones then did nothing until May 7, 2010, when the house was already over completion date. During this time I repeatedly asked for the septic to be done since I do not use portopotties because I am claustyphobic. Due to Mr. Jones not being on site my husband and myself had to be there to over see subcontracts as much as possible. Fired Mr. Jones June 10, 2010! Septic up and running by homeowners June 18 ,2010 (8 days later). Mr. Jones had budgeted $8,000 for the system, actual cost $14,000. Well line damaged by subcontractor not fixed until June 2010, homeowner had to have original well company come in, had water to house June 18, 2010. Cost just under $2000, Mr. Jones had nothing budgeted for this, even though he broke it. Met with contractor in December with list of complaints, Mr. Jones said he would address them, he didn't. Should have fired him then. Things just got worse, Mr. Jones would show up at 9 am and be gone by 3 pm leaving no one over seeing project! Come to find out Mr. Jones driver's license had been suspended ( I THINK WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN TOLD) . Ice dams because of poor insulation, Mr. Jones never called the building inspector to inspect the blown in insulation, never getting this work signed off for. Mr. Jones only covered hole in roof for vent pipe in January after homeowners notice black stains running down newly painted staircase walls (Mr. Jones response ?someone must of spilled a coke on the wall"), Vent Pipe not installed till June 22,2010 isn't this rough plumbing. Mr. Jones never gave us the deduction for materials paid by us ($14,000+), allowances that should have been taken off by contract ($15,000), and he was billing for work that he didn?t do ($15,500). We asked everyone if they had gotten paid in full and were informed by the drywallers, two carpenters, the plumbers and the septic installer that they had not been paid. Mr. Jones has two liens against him one for the dumpsters that were paid in full by us in September 2009 and one for the portapotty that was on site. Due to a complaint we have against Mr. Jones, he claims to the Better Business Bureau that all that was left was paint. If that is the case I would love to know where he hid my occupancy permit can't seem to find it anywhere. Never seen the building inspector hold up an occupancy permit for paint. After Mr. Jones was fired from our project we found that he had photos of our house on his webpage. Mr. Jones has a right to use the photos in a portfolio, but is not allowed to publish the photos without written authorization. The minute he placed these photos on his website he published them. He has photos of our fireplaces that were done by our contractor independent of him. He has no right to show case another contractor?s work that is not affiliated with his company. The mason wants his fireplaces removed. Even today he has our home listed as work in progress when he was clearly fired June 10, 2010. This is a blatant misrepresentation of Mr. Jones? work. Mr. Jones and his web designer were both sent certified letters requesting the removal of our photos from his web page. The web designer wrote us back saying that Mr. Jones owns the website and that she can only do what she?s instructed. Mr. Jones responded with the fact that he was proud of his work and that he would not take our photos off the website. If this the case can we have him put the photos of all his screwup on the website along with the pretty photos. I wouldn't be proud to say this my work. Mr. Jones has advertised that he is a member of the Better Business Bureau, the Meredith Chamber of Commerce and HBRANH at the time we hired him. We found out later that he is not currently a member of the BBB and was not a member of the Meredith Chamber of Commerce and that HBRANH has never even heard of the company. We filed with the Better Business Bureau in April 2011. Mr. Jones did not respond to their attempts to resolve our complaint until August 8, 2011, after my family assisted an elderly veteran and wife who were being suied by Mr. Jones over construction issues. Mr. Jones removed the claim that he was a member from his primary site, but still maintains these claims on two other sites that is known about. http://americanbuilders.com/MountainLakes/index.html and http://www.yellowpages.com/moultonborough-nh/mip/mountain-lakes-contracting-inc-18862013 I would like to point out that his yellow pages ad is for Moultonborough. He is falsifying his address. In closing when Mr. Jones was fired two months after project completion date there was still no water or septic on the property and items left to be completed were plumbing, electrical, cabinets, doors, landscaping, stairs, ect.. Even a year later we are still correcting deficiencies in his construction example: the deck railing falling off due to insufficient supports. Our advise to anyone hiring a builder is to ask for drivers record, credit report, SSN and perminant home address if they won't give you these don't hire them red flags should go up. Good luck on your building adventure.