IMPERIAL BUILDERS & HOME IMPRV

CONTRATOR - IMPERIAL BUILDERS - OWNER: MICHAEL SYMONDS My wife and I had just bought a Foreclosure home and with all the other work that needed done, we decided to completely redo the kitchen. Owner Michael Symonds came into our home after being recommended by the local home improvement store and we discussed the remodeling of our kitchen. We told him what we wanted to do and that we had already ordered all the new cabinets and countertops. We also said that we were open to suggestions on other areas to include the lighting. He gave us some really good ideas about the lighting and about opening up one doorway from 30? to 70?. We told him that we would like to turn the pass-through window into a eat-at-counter and he suggested open the window up to make the whole area more open. We also told Mr. Symonds that we wanted to close the wall at the bottom of the staircase and have a door installed to add privacy to the downstairs apartment. Mr. Symonds submitted his proposal and after reviewing and comparing to other contractors, we accepted him bid. During the course of the remodeling project, friends and family were helping us with the areas of the house (i.e., painting, hanging lights, fixing walls, and installing exterior doors. Mr. Symonds, on several occasions, inserted himself into the other projects outside the areas he was supposed to be doing because he felt that he needed to advise them on what they were doing, he advised my friend how to do dry wall work in another room and my nephew how to do electrical outlets and wiring. On one Tuesday, he had the kitchen lighting mostly done and I asked him if he could all the lighting installed and completely done before Friday and he said there would be no problem. When Friday's business day was done, he had not gotten any further on the lighting than he had on the Tuesday. When I asked him about the delay, he told me that he had to help everyone else which delayed him in his own work. On several occasions after this I had asked him about completing work and he never met the deadline that he said he could meet. He also knew that I had set a deadline to have everything done and ready to install the cabinets no later than September 27, 2012. I was going to have 6 people moving into the house on September 29th and wanted all that done. He ensured me that he would be finished with everything and ready for the cabinets. This deadline was not met either. In fact it took him almost 3 more weeks to reach this point. During this 3 weeks (of the missed deadline) I also asked him to install a line for a dryer in the laundry room and he said that it would be no problem. At the end of the 3 weeks, he said the delay was caused by having to install a 220 dryer outlet, and having to clean up all his equipment due to the children that moved into the house on September 29th. Had he completed when he said that he would have, he would not have had to deal with the children. They would have only been present during the cabinet installation. Mr. Symonds also asked us during the course of the project to advance him half of the monies due to him so he could buy supplies. My wife and I gave him a check for $9000 which would pay him all but a few hundred dollars. He told my wife that he didn?t recommend doing this because a lot of contractors would not finish the work on time, if at all, because they already have their money. Apparently, he knew something about this because after we gave him the money, his work became slower and no deadlines were met (please note that all deadlines were discussed with Mr. Symonds and agreed upon by him). Mr. Michael Symonds was rude and disrespectful to me and my family. The first week of October, he told my wife he was leaving the job site because I was having cable installed, a new furnace installed and he was supposed to be working in the kitchen. He also told my wife ?If I were running this job site, the scheduling would have been done better?. He also said that he could not work with all the other people there in his way. At one point during the project he told me that I did not know what I was doing and began shouting at me. He even threatened to leave until I told him that he could leave but would be sued for the $9000 dollars that I had paid plus any costs from the suit. The work that Mr. Symonds did was nice; he did good work as a Finish Contractor and his price was very competitive. However, his work ethics and attitude were terrible. I would not recommend him to do anything. If you have a lot of time and can afford him to not show, come in when he is ready, run to the home improvement store for 3 hours to return for 30 minutes then go to lunch for an hour, or just work for an hour or 2 a day. He might be your man. I would suggest that you save the headache and pay a little more.