C J Kalapis Contracting LLC

It has been a year since the work has been done and the deck still doesn't feel complete. The capping on the side rails came unscrewed in areas. The flooring isn't even attached correctly. The boards have started to shift and the are warping in areas. The contractor recommended a certain way of screwing them down so we wouldn't have screws sticking out catching out feet. Well, it turns out most of his recommendations were made to make it easier on him because now the boards are not secured and there are screws that stick out catching our feet. You can even see under the deck where he "screwed" the flooring down and missed the joists altogether. Most of the job he demonstrated his own laziness in "craftsmanship." He recommended using the old balusters to be more "green"....I spent hours cleaning, sanding and painting them. Some ended up looking bent, but the worst part was he came to fix one that he forgot to screw in and he didn't pre-drill it, it cracked and he just left it like that without fixing. Pure laziness. He asked us if we wanted to replace the soffit under the deck to prevent rain from dripping down and I said yes. Well, that was a whole other issue. It fell down several times. We finally just gave up, took it down and will replace ourselves. His work was subpar and now it falls on us to fix because we can't afford to hire someone else to redo everything he didn't do correctly. This was a great disappointment considering we have had other great contractors and we know what good work looks like.

Our first problem with CJ Kalapis came three weeks into the project. My wife arrived home to an empty house at around 8:30 PM, and the door leading to the house from the garage was left wide open. After ensuring her security around the house, she noticed that spackle was all over the house: the kitchen faucet, sink, window, the powder room bath sink, woodwork, door knobs, the master bedspread and carpeting and everyplace in between. CJ Kalapis was informed. The spackling was applied very thick and then was sanded. Since so much sanding was required, the dust in the whole house has been extraordinary and we are still dealing with the mess. Furthermore, there are areas in both bathrooms where the spackle has been unevenly applied, showing obvious ridges. Evidence of this exists even after we have pointed out these problem areas. Next, the tile work for the main bathroom was completed in a substandard and unprofessional manner. Basically, small slivers of tile were cut on the inside corners and the tiles along the ceiling were poorly cut and uneven. Apparently this was acceptable to CJ Kalapis because he completed the grouting. While he agreed to redo it, the work remains sloppy and definitely not something we would have expected from a contractor with an Better Business Bureau A+ rating. He covered up the tiling and grouting errors with a heavy layer of caulking that looks awful and has already cracked despite the fact that the bathroom has not been used. Additionally, the area around the tub nozzle was not cut correctly and shows the interior wall and will allow water infiltration. The end result of the tile work in both bathrooms was amateurish: the corners are not 90 degrees, some tiles protude out from others, the grout work is sloppy and is cracking. The last event occurred with the procurement and installation of the vanities. His design included two 42” vanities. We found two vanities from an on-line source. After showing and discussing them with CJ Kalapis, it was agreed that they would be acceptable. CJ Kalapis did not want to pay for them using his own credit card, so we paid for them with the agreement that we would be reimbursed. The contract included an allowance for vanities. We requested this allowance be refunded to us immediately. To date, we have paid twice for the vanities. He refused to reimburse us stating he would reconcile at the end of the project. His reconciliation was erroneously inflated and full of errors so as not to provide this reimbursement. As for the installation, the space that he constructed for the master bath vanity was short of the 42 inches. His solution was to gouge out the left wall and not to replace the wainscoting on the right side in order to make it fit. Again, he expected us to accept this shoddy and poorly planned installation. Also, his installation of the vanity in the main bath resulted in damage to the left wall and this has not been repaired. Other issues include: touch up painting in both bathrooms; the cut outs around the lights in both bathrooms exceed the diameter of the light trim, and granite shelves that were part of design were never installed. CJ Kalapis reneged on this contract item and installed wood shelves in direct conflict with a discussion which included installing a contrasting granite remnant; we have requested that these shelves be removed. C K Kalapis's work is sloppy and substandard and lacks attention to even the basic details. This CJ Kalapis estimated 2-3 week project exceeded 8 weeks.