Chris Dallas

Description of Work: I have had a five-year-relationship with Chris Dallas. During this time I have had the highest regard for his professionalism, excellent skills, and happy attitude. I have referred him to several individuals who have had the same opinion as I had. In December 2009 I had been working with a contractor that was not keeping to our written agreement, was several weeks behind schedule, and was misusing financial advances. I fired him, with my roof only half done, and called Chris Dallas to complete the front roof. In addition, in December 2009 I hired Chris to raise the floor in three rooms. When he checked out the area he informed me the previous contractor who had worked on the bathroom had created the problem that caused three rooms to sink. He had cut into the main joist supporting three rooms and left my cast iron tub with only two strips of a 2 x 4 for support and had cut a huge section out of the main joist going through these three rooms when that contractor enlarged the size of the bathroom and moved the tub to a new location. Chris said it was the previous contractor who had caused one bedroom, the only bathroom, and the dining room to sink. In addition, Chris found an enormous hole in the air conditioner return that also appeared to be done by the previous contractor. Chris was OUTRAGED that someone would have done such a terrible job and damaged my property in that way. He completed fixing both problems and I thought he had done an excellent job. So, at that time, I had lost another $1,000 to a previous contractor who had damaged my home. After agreeing to finish the front roof, Chris called me in advance and showed up the first week of January 2010 and started the roof, then we were hit with really bad weather. With the roof not done Chris came to me and asked to be paid in advance, that he had a real emergency. I got the money, even delivered the funds to his home. Chris had called his wife to go home mid-day to get the money. I paid him thinking he would make things right, even though things started out wrong on the first day. I told Chris not to drive around to the back yard for any reason, as a truck had sunk in the mud back there the previous week. I went into the house and Chris immediately drove his truck, and 12 foot trailer, onto my property to attempt to back the trailer up to the front of the house to catch the roofing debris. I had just told him not to drive onto the property. He then spent 30 minutes trying to get out of the mess he created. In the process he damaged my neighbor's house and yard. He ended up digging 10 to 12 inches deep onto my yard, an area about 20 feet long. Deep enough that my gardener could not do the yard as the ruts were so deep and the mud piled up alongside those ruts drying to a feeling of cement. My repair would need a whole lot of new dirt, a bobcat to do the work, and sod to repair the destroyed Bermuda. This has turned out to be a $300 repair. Chris showed up the next day with a Bobcat and repaired my neighbor's property and left. He made no attempt at any time to fix my property. The gardener could not take care of the yard because he felt the mess would damage his $6,000 mower. I kept running into Chris and telling him we had to talk and he needed to complete the roof. Especially the flashing around the base of the fireplace stack. He said he had "never put flashing on any fireplace on any roof he had repaired." (Months later inspection by the City of Carthage confirmed with me that putting flashing around the fireplace stack is a Code requirement.) He argued with me about the flashing as the weeks went on and Chris did not finish the roof or clean up the huge mess he had left in my front yard, but always with that great smile and happy attitude. The flashing was not all that was left unfinished. He also left a mess of roofing materials, wallboard from the closet he was remodeling, and flooring materials from the bathroom floor (he was to rebuild due to warping of rafters) then tile the floor. He left this mess there for one month when I had a friend come over with his truck to help me remove the debris and take to the dump. I had already contracted with Chris to do two other jobs, so felt secure that I could trust him. I saw Chris in the neighborhood periodically and mentioned this to him, with always of a promise that he would be over. He started work on my closet. Moving one four foot wall and putting up another wall in a different area. As far as workmanship he did a good job - he just did not finish. He mudded the sheetrock once and that was it. After waiting one month I completed the mudding and sanding process on the sheetrock job he had done - in order to use my closet (which was in the Master Bedroom). I waited weeks again for him to return a call or show up, again running into him here and there. Chris was always cheerful and had a happy attitude, even when he argued with you. In the beginning of our agreement in December of 2009 - I had told Chris he could come over and start work at anytime if he had an unexpected opening for work, AS LONG AS he called me the night before to let me know. I come home one afternoon and Chris is finishing the pouring of cement onto my bathroom floor. This really confused me. He said it was because of the warping, and I was not to go into the bathroom for at least three days. As this is my only bathroom he was repairing - a little notice would have been a very good thing. Now without warning I had no toilet or tub! A week later I come home, and once again he is working on the bathroom floor -without notifying me. This time he was done with the tiling AND GROUTING SIMULTANEOUSLY - and was about to leave. I told him, of course, I did not know he was coming - and - why wasn't he using tile spacers I had provided. He said he never used spacers and he needed more grout. I provided same and he completed the grout work and told me not to go into the bathroom for five days. AGAIN no bathroom without notice!!! Keep in mind I thought of this young man as I would my nephew of the same age, that Chris went to school with. Always believing in him and that he would make any mistake right. After all, during these months he had raised the floor of the three rooms. When one of them sunk again Chris came over and repaired the work to great satisfaction, and said not to hesitate to call him if there was any future problem. I was always polite, and understanding to Chris. The young man with the great smile and happy attitude. In the end the bathroom looks like a ten year old tiled it. A complete mess, even with one foot of the vanity being sunk into one inch of cement. The bathroom is three different levels, and this is a tiny bathroom, making it even more obvious that you are stepping from one level onto another. Extraordinarily bad workmanship. Then I find out, from yet another inspector, that Chris never replaced or repaired the warped rafters under the bathroom. The cement job was to disguise the problem, in lieu of repairing the problem as agreed to. I have three different witnesses and photographs to verify everything I have said. I called Chris again and again, and finally caught him at home. I thought he was having trouble with his phone because we kept on being disconnected. When I told him that he said "Nothing is wrong with my phone. I've been hanging up on you." I was being very calm and polite, and Chris decided to listen. After I went over the list of his poor work needing repair (including the damage to my yard and the three floors he had raised were now sunken again) stressing another inspector reported he had not replaced the joists as agreed to, the cement work was atrocious, as well as the tile work being an embarrassment. Please remember Chris Dallas had been paid in full for all this work. When asked when was he going to come over and repair this mess, this was the last statement Chris Dallas made to me: "Well, there is a 12% unemployment rate right now, so I am sure you can find someone to do the repairs." He then hung up on me. Over the years Chris has done a lot of electrical work for me. The agreement was always for him to put new wire in from the broken point of origin to the new electrical box. I have since found that he did not always keep the agreement. I recently found new wiring mated to the old wiring in the back of my attic in lieu of all new wiring. What really upset me was finding the new wiring left uncapped to the old wiring on top of the paper backing of my insulation. He also left the oak floors damaged, or unrestored to the condition he found them in. So, he left a fire hazard for me in the attic. Chris knows I live on permanent disability. He knows it took me years to save for this work to be done. I have never angered him, threatened him, or had any disagreement to cause the situation created by Chris Dallas. I have thought of Chris as a respectable young man, even buying gifts for his baby when I was on vacation. After speaking to an attorney about taking Chris to court for Breach of Contract, I find that since I have no written contracts for the work Chris Dallas was hired to do, I do not have enough legal strength to be assured of winning at taking him to court for a refund. Even with witnesses and photographs, it could all end up being a waste of my money. This is a $650 "chance" to see if I can get my money back from Chris, because I never want Chris Dallas on my property again. I simply cannot afford to take Chris Dallas to court. This is why I am leaving an F rating on Angie's List.