Design Restoration

In 2016 I experienced a leak in my bedroom, he said he would come out, never showed up. I wrote him a letter, sent him certified mail and sent a text. The wife got in touch with me and said she would make sure Steve came out to fix my roof. A crew did show up to make repairs, but in October, 2017 the roof began leaking AGAIN. This time the ceiling bubbled and burst. He said he would come out, repair the roof and repair my ceiling. Two months later and he has not come out! I'm nervous that the possible snow build up at this point. All this trouble on a 2 year old roof with a 10 year warranty.

THIS IS THE LIST OF PROBLEMS: 1) Screen Door Issues - Door only opens halfway - Closer installed on top = should have been installed on the bottom - Closer screws are going into retractable screen = screen broken, requires replacement - Bottom is not flush to stairs = about ¼ inch opening allows bugs to get in - Door doesn't close all the way unless slammed shut - Screen door is not centered on door frame and looks crooked - Screws that came with door were not used, screws used do not match color of screen door - Wood below door coming unglued = did not properly secure wood to rough opening 2) Entry Door Issues - Weather stripping is broken = screws on frame are not flush, damaged the weather stripping - Paint on hinges, glass, door hardware and peephole = proper masking was not done - Paint applied to door is uneven with spots of paint beading, paint roller flecks, red paint on parts that should be beige and unpainted spots - Paint applied to trim and frame is uneven, peeling or unfinished - Paint on wooden floor by door due to lack of drop cloth placement - Instead of using Sherwin Williams MAB paint asdetailed in the contract, used Behr Home Depot brand paint 3) General Issues - Extreme tardiness. Consistently showed up 3-5 hours late - Job that should have taken one day was not finished after three - Did not show up on the final scheduled day of work (never finished job) - Claimed to be licensed, but upon further investigation it was clear that license had expired - Unprofessional blaming of subordinate workers - Lack of telephone responsiveness THIS IS THE STORY: On Monday, July 29 2013, Steve from Design Restorations came to our house with one employee to do an estimate. We signed a contract and gave him $350 to start, with the rest due upon completion of the job. On Tuesday, July 30 2013, Steve called at about 8:30am-9am to say he was running about an hour late. He called both me and my fiancee to let us both know he was running late. I called him at 11am because we still hadn't heard from him and he hadn't shown up at the house. I told him it was very unprofessional to be so late and that I was very concerned because he'd said it would take all day to complete the job and now the day was almost half over. He was very apologetic and said he'd had a problem with another job and he was so sorry and so upset that I thought he was unprofessional because he wasn't and he'd be at my place in 15 minutes. He did show up in about 15 minutes and he was very apologetic to my fiancee (I was at work by then). He bought us a wireless doorbell as he apology gift for being so late. When I got home from work at 7:30 pm Steve and his crew (two other contractors) were still working and they were nowhere near being done. They got big lights and kept working after the sun set. They were there until 11:30pm, at which time Steve told us he was just too tired to continue and that if he did continue he might make mistakes and do a bad job, so he'd rather stop and continue the next day. As it was very late and we also needed to get ready for work the next day, we agreed with him that it was okay for him to finish the next day. The entry door and transom had been installed and the first coat of paint was up on the door. One of Steve's employees installed our hardware so we could lock the door overnight. Steve cautioned the employee to be sure to keep the boxes and instructions for the hardware because he'd have to remove them tomorrow to continue painting. Steve told us he wouldn't get to our place on Wednesday until late morning, around 11am-11:30am. I was impressed that he cleaned up and made sure there was no sand dust on our hardwood floor prior to leaving, even though it was so late. On Wednesday, July 31 2013, I stayed home from work so I could be home to see the final product when the contractors finished. Well, 11:30am came and went and no one showed up or called. At 2:30pm my fiancee called Steve to ask him where he was and Steve said he was en route and would be at our place within the hour. That should have been 3:30pm, but Steve didn't show up until 5pm! This time he came with only one employee. It was the employee who was doing all the painting - Steve kept disappearing. I had to tell his employee that there should be a drop cloth on my hardwood floor to avoid paint spilling on it! At about 9:30pm, Steve grabbed the screen door to take it outside and get ready to install it. I could see him from where I was sitting and I saw him shaking his head. He looked at me and said "it's not going to fit". He said he if he installed it, it wouldn't look good. I was immediately upset because he measured on Monday and said it was fine! He admonished me for walking over to hear him out with my arms crossed and an angry look on my face. He said "there's no need to be defensive". I disagreed! We specifically asked him about this very concern and he said it was fine! He said we could just go back to home depot and switch sizes. We told him we didn't think this screen door came in a smaller size and that the instructions for the door say this is the correct size for our rough in. Then he said he would make it work and that it was going up that night. I got more upset because just two minutes ago he'd said it wouldn't look good if he put it up! I had to walk away in order to not be nasty to him. My fiancee came upstairs after a few minutes to tell me that Steve said he could make it look good and he wouldn't leave it ugly. So, we trusted Steve to make it look good. At 10:30pm Steve said he had to stop because he was very tired and he needed parts from Home Depot that he'd get in the morning. He said he'd be by at 9:30am. He said he only had about 2 hours left of work and he'd be done. I noticed the paint job didn't look good and he said it just wasn't done yet. On Thursday, August 1 2013 it was raining all morning. Steve said he'd be by when the rain let up. My fiancee let him know none of us would be home that evening because we had prior commitments. This job was supposed to be done on Tuesday! I had to be at work and my fiancee would only be home until 5:30pm. Steve showed up with one contractor at 2:30pm. They were not done by 5pm, but my fiancee had to leave so he was trying to shoo them out the door. The employee had been chatting with him and told him Steve had threatened to not pay him if we didn't pay Steve. So, my fiance being the generous soul he is, decided to give Steve all but $100 of what we still owed him. Steve updated our contract to show the new payment and he wrote "the rest payable upon completion of job on 8/2/2013". Steve said he had a plane to catch on Friday at 3pm, so he needed to be by really early. My fiancee said he could stop by at 7:30am. Steve left his platform and several brushes, wood, caulk, and other small work items in our living room, since he was returning the next day. He kept trying to get my fiancee to let him stay to finish, but my fiancee really needed to leave and was already so he failed to notice anything about the screen door when he was running out. Later, when we returned home we realized the screen door only opened 2/3 of the way. Then we saw that the runner (metal bar that provides tension and locks to keep door open) was installed on the top. Our screen door is the type where the screen is rolled into the metal on top and unrolls for easy use, which means the runner belongs on the bottom of the door and installing it at the top meant the screen was damaged! On Friday, August 2 2013, I again stayed home since we had this major problem to discuss. Steve of course didn't show up at 7:30am, so we started calling his cell phone right away. His voice mail was full so we couldn't leave a message. He finally answered at 9am. He asked if his employee had shown up. We told him no and that we had a major issue we needed to address with him, not his employee. He said he'd be at our place in an hour and a half, which would be 11am. No Steve at 11am. His employee called at 11:15am to say he was en route. We explained to him we had a potentially major issue that we needed to discuss with Steve. He said they'd both be at our place by noon. Neither he nor Steve showed up at noon and after noon came neither would answer their cell phones, even though we called many, many times. They were a no show. --Steve never showed up to finish the job or even to collect his things. He never made any attempts to call either of us to make arrangements to finish. We waited to hear from him, but finally on August 20 2013 we sent him a breach of contract notice.