Smith & Sons Home Improvements & Repairs

I hired Brian Smith from Brian Smith & Sons 2 years ago to do a bathroom remodel. I checked out his website it said he was fully licensed, bonded and insured. I gave him a call and he promptly came out and gave me an estimate. During this job Brian was easy to work with and was punctual and pretty much (as far as I knew) did what he said he would do. The job came in over budget and a little longer than expected ? but it?s an old house so I thought this was acceptable. A problem popped up last December and that?s when I really learned about Brian Smith and the kind of ?work? he does. Stay with me . . . this may be a long story. I had a small bathroom and bedroom I wanted to convert into a master bath. The job consisted of pretty much gutting the old bathroom. He removed the wall between the rooms, built an archway, moved the toilet to a different location, removed the tub and built a corner shower. He installed a new vanity and a new jet tub. He redid the floor and the ceiling and installed a sound system. The floor and shower were tiled. He built a wall around the existing pipes that led to the small bathroom upstairs and left a removable door so we could access the pipes if we needed to. He also made a removeable door to access the plumbing behind the new shower enclosure. The job was started on March 16, 2010 and completed on April 24, 2010. It all looked pretty good. There was an issue with plumbing the vanity. He told me the way the pipes were in the old house the vanity had to be placed about 4? from the wall to accommodate them (I now know different). He also used 2 huge screws (and they are visible) to hang the mirror over the vanity. He said that was the only way to hang it (I now know different). No major problems ? I thought. Now, on to December, 2011. The commode and vanity sinks began to get really slow. They eventually totally stopped up. My wife and I got a hose and bladder, removed the toilet and flushed out the pipe and all worked well again. We thought we had it fixed . . . until last week. The toilet and vanity sinks got slow again. We were washing dishes in the kitchen and when we let the water out of the drain, the toilet overflowed. Now we knew we had a problem. I called a local plumber to come out and see what was going on. We walked into the bathroom and the first thing he noticed was the vanity sitting out from the wall. He looked at the plumbing and asked who did this? I should have known then that something was up. He crawled under the house and was gone for about 30 minutes. I was beginning to get worried. When he came out he shook his head and gave me the news. He said he had never seen anything like it in his life. The following is what he found in that short amount of time. I?m sure more issues will turn up when we give Brian?s handiwork a closer look. All of the pipes Brian put in were back-pitched (ran uphill). I?m not a scientist but I know water WON?T run uphill. The tub drain wasn?t connected to the trap. Every time we flushed the toilet or used any water in the bathroom at all, water was pouring out directly onto the ground. We have an underground pool and didn?t even know it. Brian had 2? pipes feeding into 1? pipes. Where 2 pipes came together Brain had a wired wrapped around them to try to keep them together. As a connector, Brian used a small 1? piece of pipe stuck between two pieces of 2? pipe with no seal at all. The left hand sink on the vanity was not sealed around the drain and was leaking. Brian had cut away about ¾ each of 3 floor joists to run pipes through which greatly compromised the structure, integrity and stability of the floor. Remember the little doors Brian made so we could access the pipes? We tried it. They're not doors. It?s a solid drywall wall with 2 pieces of trim giving the illusion that there are doors there. Now I have to knock holes in the wall to access those pipes. I was given an estimate of about $5,000 (ballpark) to undo the damage Brian Smith has done to our home. Because of the shoddy work Brian did we?ve had 2 years worth of water pouring on the ground under our house. Who knows what kind of damage that has done to the foundation of the house and even to our overall health. All of that standing water has to have mold or something growing in it. I immediately contacted the Tennessee Licensing Board and they have no record of a Brian Smith that is a Licensed Contractor in Kingsport, TN. I have my doubts about the ?bonding and insurance? as well. With some research I have found he has 3 addresses ? 2 of which do not even exist. I feel in the very least we are victims of fraud. I was told prior to Brian starting the work that he would get the necessary building permit from the city. I was charged $135 for this permit. I just checked with the City of Kingsport. Guess what? He didn?t get a permit. Is anyone else seeing a pattern here? I filed a complaint against him with the BBB. I?m not the first. I am currently filing a complaint with TN Consumer Affairs. I?m not the first there either. He currently has photos of my bathroom on his website along with a glowing endorsement from me. The endorsement came well before I learned about his lack of skills and crooked ways. My overall experience was OK at first and has now gone to the far opposite end of the spectrum. The bottom line is I paid a LOT of money for a LOT of sorry work. All of Brian?s work above the floor looked pretty good. I have figured that out though. He hired someone else to do the tile work. Everything below the floor is a total mess. Anyone who does this caliber of work and calls himself a professional is delusional. It looks like he took up the floor and just threw pipes in there hoping they would stick. The only thing that got stuck was me - with the bill. I remember Brian told me before I hired him that he would do for me the quality of work he would do in his own home. I?m guessing his home isn?t standing anymore. Now I?m beginning to worry about the electrical work he did. I?m getting a home inspector to come out and let me know what else of Brian?s work I need redone before the house burns down. STAY AWAY FROM BRIAN SMITH & SONS!! He will take advantage of you just as he did me. He will collect your hard earned money for ?work? that is far below what even the sorriest contractor known to man would do. Come to think of it, he IS the sorriest contractor known to man - to this man at least. Please research your choice of contractor. Don?t go by what their website says or what they tell you. Talk to people they have done work for. That?s where I fell short. I grew up thinking that people were what they said they were and would do what they said they?d do. I was wrong. Lesson learned.