A&B Contracting

Gus came and quoted a few jobs back in September 2020. He wasn't the cheapest and he was very pleasant and reponsive on the quotes. He also was very professional during that time. Gus delayed the project twice prior to starting saying that another job was taking longer than expected. After Gus started in mid-October he was here by 9am every day starting out. Following that he would show up later and later and later and although slow progress was being made he never really showed any motivation to complete the work. As the project went on I paid all invoices within a day and was punctual with any questions that he had. Gus finished some of the bathrooms but there were still some major punchlist items needing fixed. He did not caulk appropriately around the tub and wainscoting. The plumbing work and drywall were both shoddy and needed repaired. I asked for items to be fixed and it was never done. Eventually after having to ask for Gus to fix the bad work he just stopped showing up. I continued to ask for a schedule of return to work for 2 weeks. After which, Gus did the same thing as the other reviewer and sent a cease and desist letter and an invoice for an additional $3500 for work that he said was done (it wasn't) and work he said was agreed to (it wasn't). On top of that I had already paid him over $17K in deposits for the work which he never completed nor started. All in all he was trying to scam me for over $20K. Luckily I paid with a credit card and was able to get reimbursed. Now I am stuck with a total of $6000 to repair the work he already completed, this repair cost us more than his original work. I would not recommend.

Gus completed a project at my fiance's house and did a fantastic job on the structure itself. Communications were often slow and it took much longer than expected because he was trying to fit us in among other projects, but we have no complaints about the substantive work done on the back deck. One small section of trim was left unpainted (Gus said for several weeks that he would be back to touch it up, but never did - we painted it ourselves, no big deal). He also replaced a section of porch railing on the front of the house that we both were less happy with. The estimate seemed high, but there is a shortage of contractors with availability this year, so we agreed. I saw the materials he used at Home Depot - the section of railing was less than $100. It took about 2 hours to replace the rail, and a huge gouge was left in the floor board from removing the old rail that wasn't painted or filled in. We paid $700. Gus was also great to work with during the estimating process on several projects I wanted quoted at my house. I also found communication to be slow, but I understood that most if not all contractors had more volume of work than usual this year. After consulting a realtor about the improvements recommended for selling the house verses those I wanted done if I were staying, the scope of the estimate did change considerably. He got me a new estimate on 9/11 and asked me to decide and pay a 50% deposit ASAP for his planning/scheduling. I committed and paid the deposit ($1,300) within 24 hours (on 9/12). Gus was not proactive about communication or scheduling - I was the one calling, texting and following up. On 9/17 he let me know he could start on 9/21, but told me I had to contact Duke Energy to wrap the power lines. I called Duke the first thing the next morning and placed the work order and gave all the information to Gus to follow up. I assumed he would still start on the other side of the house on the 21st, but he said he would wait a few days until the lines were wrapped. I followed up on 10/3 because I had not heard anything and let him know the lines were wrapped (they had been since the previous Friday), and Gus said he would "squeeze it in" the following week (10/6-10/8). After talking to 2 other contractors doing other work at my house, they suggested that I follow up with Gus and make sure the lines were wrapped as he expected them to be. They mentioned they were still live and uncovered by the weatherhead and getting in around them could be difficult and dangerous. They both mentioned they would have expected the power to be completely shut off for the day it would take to install the new siding on that side. I called Gus on 10/5 to discuss the power lines and safety. He agreed he would prefer to work with the power off and asked that I submit a new work order to Duke. The first work order with Duke took 7 days to execute. Based on this timeline, I contacted Gus and told him there wasn't enough time to get the siding done by the time I needed to list my house for sale and asked about cancellation fees and cancelling the project. After 3 days with no response, I asked Errick to call Gus and ask about it since they also have a social relationship. Gus told him the materials were delivered to Home Depot and ready to be picked up, but that he would return them and work on returning my deposit. I received a cancellation notice on 10/10. I really needed that refund to repair and paint the existing siding, so Errick followed up on the 14th, and once more on the 16th because we hadn't heard from him since the 10th. No work was done. No cancellation policies were included in either my estimate or invoice, and Gus didn't respond when I asked about them. I received an invoice on 10/16 demanding an additional $2,345 on top of the $1,300 deposit I already paid. Resolution will be complete for me when/if Gus refunds $1,170, which represents the original $1,300 deposit paid on 9/12 less a 10% cancellation fee which I feel is reasonable considering I can't find any cancellation policies on any of my materials from the company. I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and when/if this is resolved, I'm happy to update this review.