Lasting Impressions

Description of Work: I am currently totally replacing all of the work this contractor did. His idea of reinforcing a basemrnt wall was to pour concrete into a form that wouldn't hold the concrete when it was poured. His use of 12" rebars stuck into holes in the wall and numbring less than 10 pieces, made an engineer laugh so hard he actually cried. This was a disaster.

Description of Work: This is a toxic remodeling company. This is a poster child for why Angie's List exists. We contracted with this "company" to replace floor joists in a building we are remodeling. A fairly simple job and should be fairly straightforward. We agreed to 1/3rd down, 1/3 when half done and the remainder when completed. Total contract was $13,500 for about 50 22' floor joists to be replaced. The job went south quickly when he formed up two sections of basement walls and was going to have 12 cubic yards of concrete poured to strengthen a wall that appeared to be fairly strong. With two trucks of prepaid concrete sitting in the driveway, the forms look incredibly weak and the drivers refused to pour unless he strengthened the walls. An hour later and with much doubt the first driver started to pour. Immediately the forms gave way and concrete poured into the basement. 12 cubic yards of concrete at about $100 per cubic yard wasted. Forms still there and concrete still there. He had initially quoted the priced based on $150 per floor joist and he was going to make them onsite. I found a Menard's ad that sold manufactured floor joists for $1.79 a foot and up to 40' long. A huge saving over making our own and much stronger. A huge savings supposedly. We bailed on this contractor, and I use that term contractor very loosely, with only 15 floor joists installed and that done incorrectly. There is trash and construction debris everywhere. Inside and outside the building is a nightmare. This building is next door to the town hall. His car leaked transmission fluid all over the alley next to the building and is an eyesore. He kept telling us that he had ordered the floor joists from Menard's, but the never got delivered. He kept asking for more and more money and nothing was delivered. He asked to have some of the scrap metal that was inside the building. It became an obsession with him and his his workers cutting pipes and duct work instead of working on the floor joists. 3 days in a row they did no real work other than taking metal out of the building and selling it for scrap. A Dodge Caravan with a bad transmission can't carry enough metal to make the trip worth it. He started taking metal that he was specifically told not to take. One being a 60' section of aluminum pipe that was 18" in diameter. He cut it into 30" pieces and flattened it so it would fit into his car. The downside? He was using my saws-all and circular saw and air compressor and other equipment. When I complained, he went ballistic and threw my Rigid saws-all across the room. He said that the circular saw that he destroyed was cheap and the bearing were already gone out of it when he started using it to cut 14" floor joists and hitting large nails with it. Bottom line: anything that could go wrong about his did go wrong. We are out $8000 for paid conctract work, $1200 for concrete, $1800 for 3 pallets of OSB 3/4" plywood that he used for forms and other things, plus a lot of 2" X 4" boards and lost tools.