Corso Builders LLC

It went absolutely horrible. He took our deposit of $10,000 and said that he spent it on bills. His company then went through the process of filing bankruptcy. He never did any work and left us hanging to dry.

My wife and I were on site throughout the project. My wife is a professor of architecture and interior design and has published books on construction (amongst other things).The project commenced 1 November 2011, was estimated to complete by 1 March, the project finally completed the end June 2012.Initially - all was well. The main team consisted of the builder, Russ Corso, and his son Jeff. He sub-contracted the foundation work, flooring, electrical work and plumbing.During the demolition phase he was here on time and worked diligently. Initial signs of future problems were there, but my wife and I did not pick up on them.He was tasked to carefully remove the 200 yr old ceiling beams, floor boards, and a kitchen hutch. With the onset of winter, we rented a steel container to keep the timber protected.Only the flooring was stored in the container - despite our constant requests, the beams and kitchen hutch were left out in the snow all winter.* First major flaw - Corso failed to listen to and actioned our requests or respect our needs as his clients. He would ultimately do what he wanted to do.* Second Flaw - Corso tried to ignore difficult or intricate work - hoping that the task would go away. His son would tackle the intricate work. Difficult tasks were left until last. This often led to increasing their complexity.Once the main structure was erected, the electrician, plumber and air-conditioning sub-contractors appeared on site.* Third Flaw - Corso did not take charge of these individuals. Workers often got in each others' way. Some work was duplicated.* Fourth Flaw - Planning. Corso lacked a flexible plan of work tasks, often turned up on site without the proper tools or equipment. My wife regularly pre-empted his acions and despatched me to the hardware stores to buy equipment and materials (fortunately, these stores have an excellent 'returns policy'.As the project moved into February, interest waned. Corso commenced his next project in Exeter, NH and attendance at our promerty diminished - at first he would split his force (of 2). One would come to us whilst one went to Exeter - attempting to keep both parties happy. In reality, this enfuriated us as many of the tasks were not one-man jobs.*Fifth Flaw - .Unreliability set in. Corso would not return our calls. When he did, he assured he would be on site at a certain time - but did not show up for days. He sometimes came late in the day - in his car rather than his work truck (that contained his equipment). He would promise faithfully to turn up to complete tasks - then not show up.* Sixth Flaw - Corso's use of an unreliable Lumber Yard in Portsmouth, NH Eg. Ceiling A-Frames were ordered and delivered in November 2011. The delivered product was of an incorrect type. The driver refused to take the product away as he 'only dropped off'. Those A-Frames sat on site all-winter, until the snows melted. Secondly, we received an invoice from the lumber yard for decking materials - that we paid in March. When the shipment finally arrived in June, there were HUGE discrepancies. Much of the materials were absent from the delivery or had been substituted with less expensive alternatives. Finally, getting Corso to finish the job proved very difficult and most frustrating. The standard and quality of his finishing diminished with time. His final tasks in June were below par. We will never use this firm again.