Wanta Development, Inc.

In May 2017, I hired Charles T. Wanta of Wanta Homes Inc. & Wanta Development, Inc. based in Coatesville, PA, (hereinafter referred to as “Mr. Wanta”) as general contractor to construct a new addition on my home in Malvern, PA. The work was substantially completed eight months later in January 2018. The project was granted to Mr. Wanta because he initially seemed to be an honest person and, based on detailed quotes from subcontractors, estimated the lowest total cost of the project compared to other competing contractors. Over time, I gradually discovered, Mr. Wanta intentionally low-balled the project cost estimate to secure the project only to later provide me with actual invoices from his subcontractors that were higher than the low-balled quotes agreed to. By that point it was too late for me to choose another contractor because we had already entered into a cost-plus arrangement and were in the midst of the project. Of course, the condition of the cost-plus arrangement (cost, plus 18%) was that Mr. Wanta would obtain my approval for all subcontractor work with full disclosure of related prices ahead of time which did not always happen. The 18% mark-up charged over cost of his subcontractor’s work was specifically to compensate Mr. Wanta for overseeing and coordinating all aspects of the project as the general contractor. However, Mr. Wanta proceeded to bill me separately at an hourly rate for certain parts of his time spent ‘overseeing and coordinating subcontractors’ and even communicating with us about the status and details of the project in addition to the 18%. Effectively, Mr. Wanta was ‘double dipping’ by billing me an hourly rate for his time for which he was already compensated for in the 18% mark-up. Curiously, such duplicate billing items were presented on the bill in miniature font sizes warranting a magnifying glass to read. Also, his numerous ‘supporting schedules’ were confusing, illogical and full of unnecessary detail. Soon, it became evident to me that Mr. Wanta’s bills and supporting schedules were intentionally illegible and inundated with unnecessary detail for the purpose of hiding the duplicate billing items. Despite my request to Mr. Wanta to simplify his billing schedules to make them transparent and easier to understand, subsequent billing schedules were equally confusing and hard to follow. Because I lacked trust in Mr. Wanta’s billing practices, about two-thirds the way through the project I informed Mr. Wanta that I would keep track of actual project costs, and his 18% general contractor fee, based on copies of subcontractor invoices and his cancelled checks that I requested he provide me. Mr. Wanta did not like this proposed ‘transparent/full-disclosure’ billing approach which soon thereafter resulted in his attitude deteriorating dramatically during the remaining two months of the project. Mr. Wanta became frustrated in my questioning of and refusal to acquiesce to his ‘shifty’ billing practices. I took control of the billing away from him and his frustration led to him steadily becoming rude, disgruntled, hostile and spiteful to both my wife and me. He told us that as soon as the drywall is complete, he is “out of here”. He made overly dramatic ‘power play’ threats asserting he was in control and proceeded to intimidate and belittle my wife by asserting that if he didn’t get his way, he will “bring everything to a stop”. Essentially, Mr. Wanta became an angry, chauvinistic bully in response to being called out for his shifty billing practices. In mid December 2017, about six weeks after Mr. Wanta was confronted on his dishonest billing practices, he abandoned our project and general contractor responsibilities. This was problematic because his subcontractor’s had not completed all the requisite work, some of which was already paid for in full (e.g. heat and fireplace installation). In addition, the mason informed me in late December that Mr. Wanta eliminated from the plan a portion of the masonry work that I then needed to re-schedule and manage directly with the subcontractor in January 2018. As a parting spiteful dig, upon his unannounced resignation from the project, Mr. Wanta left behind all his subcontractor’s building material scraps, debris and garbage for us to gather and discard. My wife and I spent over 2 full days cleaning up Mr. Wanta’s abandoned construction site at our home. Included in such material were reclaimed antique barn wood beams he unnecessarily requested we purchase that were not used by him that he left outdoors to decay in the elements. From mid December 2017 through mid January 2018, I assumed the general contractor responsibilities abandoned by Mr. Wanta which entailed pursuing and scheduling subcontractors to finish the work. Only after multiple attempts and hounding of such subcontractors over three weeks did they finally acquiesce and finish the work in early January 2018. I also needed to reschedule the mason to complete the portion of work canceled by Mr. Wanta before his unannounced exit as general contractor. Interestingly, on the last day of the masonry work that Mr. Wanta cancelled, only to have me reschedule it directly with the subcontractor, Mr. Wanta appeared unannounced at my house to request the mason subcontractor send the bill to Mr. Wanta rather than me directly. Of course, this was to ensure Mr. Wanta could tack on his 18% general contractor fee to the bill and thinly veil his abandonment of his general contractor responsibilities for the prior month as him still being involved and entitled to such fee. Further, in January 2018, I learned from my Township Inspector that Mr. Wanta had never successfully resolved various building code violations communicated to him months prior during Township Inspections. My request to Mr. Wanta that he have his subcontractor’s rectify such inspection building code violations was met with Mr. Wanta asserting I would need to pay more money to have that occur. Shortly thereafter Mr. Wanta sent an e-mail to the Township Inspector and me stating he is no longer involved in (i.e. has no responsibility for) the project. Mr. Wanta effectively abandoned his responsibility for ensuring his subcontractor’s work met minimum building code requirements necessary for passing inspection and receiving a certificate of occupancy. Two months after parting ways with Mr. Wanta, he sent me another bill for over $2,000 for ‘change orders’ asserting I agreed to pay him an administrative fee of $100 for each change order. He stated this provision was included on the last page of our signed agreement. Interestingly, no mention of this $100 fee per change order appears in my copy of our signed agreement. Turns out that he unilaterally decided to slip another page into the signed agreement after we ended the project and entered a dispute to further his attempt to scam me. Our experience in working with Mr. Wanta leads us to believe he is dishonest, spiteful and shifty, at best. Mr. Wanta is quite inflexible and seems to have unresolved anger issues and chauvinistic and bullying tendencies as it relates to interacting with females. I recommend anyone interested in hiring a general contractor in the Chester County, PA area avoid Charles T. Wanta, Wanta Homes, Inc and Wanta Development, Inc (or any other name Mr. Wanta operates under) for the reasons set forth above.