This client was extremely difficult to work with from the onset, due to several factors, the most pronounced was her dependence on oxycontin and alcohol, which she admitted to me on several occasions. She continually postponed important decisions and selections needed for the remodel, while she drank and drugged her evenings and weekends away. This behavior quickly put the project into delays that she later tried to blame on me. During the project, she became increasingly concerned that she was spending too much money on her home, at a time when real estate prices were falling. I would have been glad to reduce the amount of work being performed and to reduce the cost accordingly, but she had another plan to get out of her obligation to pay for services: She made a long list of false accusations against me and filed a complaint with the CCB (Oregon Construction Contractors Board). By doing this, she hoped to use the State of Oregon resources to get all of her money back, regardless of the wrong she was doing against me. A design professional who had been assisting on the project, warned me repeatedly of our client's intent to injure me finacially, and even apologised for not standing up for me as a witness, but admitted she needed to get herself paid and the only way to do this was by pretending to side with the customer, and against me. I wonder if that cowardly plan worked. As I expected, the customer fell way behind on payments for the work already performed, and kept me working for her own benefit, even though she had already decided I would never be paid (this was confirmed by the design professional I mentioned). The customer knowingly and premeditatedly stole my resources and labor for as long as she was able to lead me on with promises of a check coming soon. She used the CCB for the purpose of stealing from me, and she was successful in doing so. Between the unpaid invoices, the remaining balance of work and money on the contract, and the small settlement I paid based on one legal technicality, she stole about $25,000.00 from me. She gave a list of 31 false accusations against me to the CCB, and all but one were denied during mediation. This includes ALL of the accusations that she has made in the her angieslist review, such as; abandonment, wrong dimensions, etc. The one that stuck was only allowed to stand based on a legal deficiency in my contract documents. We agreed upon a small settlement for the one technicality, and it was fully satisfied. Anyone can check my license record: CCB license # 153946. It is probably best that I explain "the one technicality": She was insisting that I install a pre-finished hardwood floor in her home, without the proper plywood underlayment installed beneath it. By eliminating the change of underlayment needed, she could save thousands of dollars on the hardwood floor. She was also insisting that I install the floor before the other work on the home was complete, thus risking damage to the floor during construction. After receiving much pressure from her, I agreed to install the floor ONLY if she would sign a waiver stating that I would not be held responsible for damage or failure due to the incorrect installation. There was one other problem to be resolved before installing the floor: I had also informed her verbally and in writing, and on several occasions, that her roof needed repair and if it rained, her floor would be ruined. She lied to me and said she had had someone repair the roof already. She said I didn't see him because he did it on a weekend (I later learned he was an unlicensed handyman who simply took some leaves out of the gutter). We signed the waiver and I installed most of the floor, but then it rained. Rain poured through the roof and began soaking the floor. I called her at work and informed her immediately of the leak and the damage. I worked for hours trying to stop the rain from coming in and trying to mitigate the damage. i uninstalled much of the flooring and drilled drain holes through the subfloor, to stop water from pooling in the house. I stayed half the night trying to help in good faith. I placed heaters and fans and plastic tarps and buckets, but her roof leak was terrible and the rain unrelenting. The next day she sent me an email forbidding me to enter the home and claiming she had begun a complaint against me with the CCB. I moved my tools out immediately and left the key in the house. Sometime later, she hired another contractor to replace the floor. In mediation, she showed an invoice from the other contractor for more than $10,000.00 (I doubt she paid it). The technicality I lost on is this: A contractor cannot ask a customer to waive a warranty, since a one-year warranty is required by law for everything a contractor builds (my mistake- I should have refused to install the floor regardless of the pressure from her, and regardless of my desire to please a customer). In light of this law; her lawyer advised her to claim that the floor failure was due to improper installation by me, instead of admitting it was her own fault for not having her roof repaired and lying to me about it. She even got the other contractor to add a statement to his invoice that the floor was replaced due to improper installation, saying nothing about the real reason for failure: the roof and the rain. I bit the bullet and agreed to pay a settlement of $4,000 to pay for new flooring material, just to get her out of my life. The CCB mediator did not require me to pay for the entire replacement job, maybe since it was clear I was being railroaded. Also; the CCB does not have the power to enforce payment TO a contractor FROM a customer, so, even though it was clear that she owed me a lot of money, I would never be able to collect without taking her to court. Since I had to sign a "no further law suit" clause to end the mediation, my right to collect is gone. Part of the settlement agreement states that neither party may sue the other in court (following the mediation and settlement), and this prevents me from attempting to collect the the thousands she owes me. I wouldn't try to collect anyway, since NO amount of money could make me want to see this character again. I have been a licensed contractor in two states, Oregon and California, since 1991. I no longer practice in California, since moving to Portland in the early 90s. My license number in California was 609109. Anyone can check my records in both states and find that only one complaint has ever been filed against me...and it is this one, filed with malice, by one reckless and unsavory customer, who continues her slander of me, even here on angieslist. I'm not a psychologist, but I recognize villification and denial. She must maintain her accusations and villification of me, so that she can internally justify the the evil she committed against me. If she ever admits that I am honest and hard-working, then she'll have to admit that she committed a premeditated crime against me. I doubt that will happen, but I hope she gets help with her addictions and related mental problems, without hurting anyone else. Daniel Patrick O'Brien General Construction Contractor, CCB # 153946