H BYRNS & SON CONSTRUCTION

I contracted Howie Byrns from H. Byrns & Son Construction to do a kitchen makeover in my house. It was a 5-month nightmare that ended with me firing him right before he moved out of state as he was delayed completing the project with excuse after excuse after excuse. I should have known better to use him on this project as a simple bedroom closet remodel took 7 weeks. The kitchen project started fine. Howie makes a big push from the start. Then, he disappears for weeks. I experienced this with two other projects in 2019 well before Coronavirus. Coronavirus hit and he was still working other jobs throughout the months of April and May, he just wasn’t working at my house. He worked 11 hours at my house over that two-month period. I was frustrated but understood. In fact, the only thing I asked of him during that timeframe was to hook up my dishwasher. Over the course of 5 weeks I asked him on 5 occasions to hook up the dishwasher. Every time he said he’d be there that day to do it and all 5 times I got excuses of why he couldn’t come over. I got to the point where I just paid someone else to hook it up. I had to anyway since he broke the hinge on the dishwasher. He also broke a hinge on the refrigerator door. During this renovation he also broke a glass mirror and glass shelve in my cabinet. He was supposed to replace both and never did. Once coronavirus restrictions eased up in late May I figured the project would pick up again. He started working 4 hours a week at my house. He would show up at 11am, worked for an hour, then left for “parts” for two hours and then would come back and work about 2 more hours. Obviously nothing gets done when you’re working 4 hours a week. Each week he would say I’m coming tomorrow, or this day, etc. and one of two things would happen: He’d pull a complete no show with no contact or he’d text that he couldn’t come because of some excuse. He has an arsenal of excuses, never the same one twice. My wife and I got to the point in early July where we were told on two occasions, I’m coming this day to finish. Both times he was a no show without contacting either me or my wife, the last being Friday, July 10. That no show was followed up by excuses on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of the following week. We had enough at that point. The work was a problem as well. He installed two sinks. One had a leak and the other had 4 leaks. Basically every pipe connection under that sink leaked. The spackle job was so bad that my painter had to charge me an additional day of work to fix the majority Howie’s spackle work. Over the course of this project items were left broken or as a hazard for weeks. I wound up doing the spackling myself in one room, fixing a draw that was damaged and unrepaired for a month, removing a baseboard cover so the painter could paint, fixing leaks in the sink. Electrical outlets on the island were left with wires sticking out for two weeks and my daughter cut her knee on the wires. My friend shocked himself on wires sticking out of wall that were left exposed two weeks. We are left with a mess-two toe kick heaters that have not been supplied or installed, a baseboard cover that has not supplied or installed, an icemaker that was not installed, a leak in a plumbing line that needs to be fixed, a glass mirror and 4 shelves that were damaged and supposed to be replaced, molding that was supposed to be installed around an island and floor, a step that was supposed to be raised and molding put around it and two new cabinet doors that were never supplied. Since we were toward the end of the project I had paid him almost in full. We told him we wanted to be reimbursed for the unfinished work and supplies we paid for that were not completed. At first he was receptive and said he would add everything to up to see what he owed me, but now he is not returning our texts or calls. I’m out a couple thousand dollars now and will be pursuing legal action. Use another contractor for your work.

Poorest quality concrete work I have ever seen. didn?t stay on site and direct work didn?t order enough concrete, tried to compensate by adding bagged cement onsite and not pouring full 4? in last section forms not straight and even concrete color not uniform concrete finish texture sloppy and not uniform expansion joints not lined up with existing pool patio expansion joints cement splattered all over side of house (all the way up to the roof) cement splattered all over side of shed severed existing in-ground sprinklers buried new sprinkler lines causing rework, etc. He did agree to refund a portion of my money, which we shook hands on, but he never did. He offered several excuses why, and eventually stopped responding to our calls and emails.