CR Remodels

NEVER hire this man- walked off the job with over 8200 of our money and not one job finished- left house in shambles, took money for new driveway- no driveway- exterior of the house a mess- interior of house mess from pop corn ceiling removel and texture- half painted most rooms, more than 100 pics to prove workmanship- lied about when he would be on the job- sent others to work unsupervised- splattered paint on walls and carpet- totally unprofessional and will not make it right- husband yelled at him for starting room after room before finishing even one and he then contractor walked off job, never to return. Had written contract, and would not return phone calls- badmouthed us on social media .

Provided estimate in April and started work on 5/10/15- promised to remove popcorn ceiling, texture and paint ceilings, remodel sunroom, texture walls, repair tile under the washer, remove and pour concrete for new driveway- worked sporadically, asked for advances for materials and pay for sub labor then asked for advance on concrete to the tune of $8,200. He walked off job on Monday and refuses to return phone calls or repay money. Rooms half painted - concrete not poured- this man is a thief - am filing police report do not hire him,,,,

Long story, but I will try to get to the point. Basically, this man took our money and didn't finish the job, left one day, said he would be back the next day, did not return our calls, and we never heard from him again. But that's not the worst part. A year later, we discovered that the shower had been leaking in the wall every time we used it. The wall on the other side of the shower plumbing is a living room wall. We had dark paneling covering the wall and a massive three piece entertainment center that covered almost the entire wall. These factors prevented us from seeing and discovering the problem and the damage that the water leak was causing. We had moved a stereo speaker that was sitting beside the entertainment center and noticed that the carpet looked like it was wet. We moved the furniture and found water and thick black mold on the wall, floor, the carpet, the paneling, and the bottom of the entertainment center. We removed the paneling from the wall and it was obvious, from the wet stain on the sheet rock, that the water was coming from the shower wall in the bathroom. We had to tear out that part of the wall to find out exactly where the leak was. The plumber that we hired to fix the leak said that Mr. Rhea had failed to "crimp the pipe line" to the shower plumbing. He said that it would have taken him about five minutes of time. He basically did not check the plumbing to see if there were any leaks. Had we not had the paneling and wall unit covering the wall, we probably would have noticed the problem a lot sooner. Instead, we had to tear out and replace the sheet rock and carpeting. We had to remove the black mold, which ruined the finish on the bottom of our oak entertainment center, up about six inches around the bottom. In addition to the water leak, Mr. Rhea left us to finish the job ourselves. He did not finish the tile work in the shower and on the floor. We had to finish the tile work, purchase and install the toilet, vanity, countertop, and sink, connect the plumbing, and install the light fixture on the wall, to complete the job that we hired Mr. Rhea to do. In addition to this, we had to repaint the vanity and cabinet that he painted. He took them to another location to spray paint them and brought them back a week later. He said that he needed to touch them up. The paint job was horrible, not covering completely and drips everywhere. He had insisted that they needed to be sprayed, but then he proceeds to "touch them up" with a paint brush! We also had to sand the texture on the walls along the ceiling and around the door and window, because they left the texture all globbed up. Because it couldn't be painted evenly, we ended up having to put molding around the ceiling. I would like to add, that there were delays caused by both of us in the time that he was working on this remodel job. He started right after Thanksgiving, continued through the Christmas holidays, and left the job, without completing the work, the first week of February. He basically came and went at all times of the day, showing up, at times, in the morning, afternoon, and evening, for an hour or two at a time. At one time, we didn't hear from Mr. Rhea for two weeks. When he finally showed up, he said that he had to move his wife's uncle into a nursing home and then the man passed away, and he had to take care of his unfinished business. We delayed the job for close to two weeks, while we had a cabinet maker build a vanity and cabinet. We had them on order for quite some time from another place, but they continued to be delayed because of problems with the manufacturer. He had other jobs that he was doing, so we understood that he would come and finish ours when he had the chance. He had told us that he didn't care if it took us a year to get a vanity. On that subject, there came a time when Mr. Rhea asked for $400, so that he could "play" two cabinet makers against each other, to see which one would give him the best price for a vanity and cabinet. That $400, coincidentally, was the balance and exact amount that we would have owed him, according to the total price he gave us for the project. He had previously asked us, over the course of the time he was working, for all of the rest of the money. After a week, he returned and told us that the cabinet makers were being ******, and didn't want to give him a fair price. So, he basically told us that we were going to have to find someone ourselves to build them. No mention of the $400 that we had given him to use for that purpose! He still needed to purchase a vanity, countertop, sink, and toilet (which ended up coming out of our pockets!). To sum this up, Cord Rhea lacks honesty, integrity, and professionalism. To our knowledge, we do not know or believe that he is licensed, bonded or insured. We have learned a couple of valuable lessons. Most reputable remodelers will only ask for half down and require the other half at the time the project is finished. Don't pay someone the whole amount before the job is finished. And, hire someone who is licensed and bonded.

Cord was extremely generous with his time when we first met. He discussed in detail the work which had to be done, work which might have to be done, and possible issues we could run in to. He and his crew arrived on time and were very professional. He did everything he could to save me money. He even did some small optional jobs at no charge, just to make the house look better.