Hacienda

They were recommended by my cousin. They were awesome. They're one of the best contractors I've ever dealt with. It was all top notch, they kept on schedule, always knew what was happening, when it was coming in and it was great communication. It just went flawlessly. If he can work you in to his schedule then you're golden. You won't have any concerns whatsoever.

Based on a good recommendation we hired the contractor. This job started well. Red flag #1 During his estimate he told us we needed to get all the required permits to do the job! Interesting, since previously the plumber, electrician, and HVAC company all got their own permits and took the responsibility for getting their own work inspected. Red Flag # 2 as the project started, the intial estimate went up $600.00. We were told by the contractor that his office made a mistake in first estimate and that he couldn't possibly perform the job for the initial written detailed estimate. So, we agreed on the new estimate and paid half of the requested amount up front with the balance due upon completion of job. We set the start date for 5/21/2012. In the details of job estimate, the contractor allotted approximately 4-5 days for the bathroom remodel and back exterior door replacement. This turned out to be no where near enough time to do the job. This job was in downtown Austin at a small condo. Parking is tough since each condo has only one parking space and HOA rules request that construction work is conducted between the hours 9:00-5:00 pm., M-F, no weekends. The contractor was made aware of these constraints prior to providing the job estimate. However, once the job started he asked that we provide parking for his crew which we did. We gave up not only our parking space but also asked our neighbor to borrow his space when he was not home. Then the contractor also asked us for a place to dump the construction trash, rather than dealing with removing it himself. So, we allowed him to dispose of the construction trash in the condo dumpster. This gave him one less thing he needed to concern himself about. Next, came the install of the bathroom tub drywall which required city inspection. While the tube drywall passed inspection, the inspector saw the drywall for the ceiling and let us know it was not to code and required proper coded materials and installation before he would pass the ceiling portion of this job. At the second inspection, the inspector required a repair to the contractor's sloppy ceiling fire proofing before the ceiling job passed inspection. Red Flag#3: Our contractor told us we were the responsible party at the inspections for HIS work - he wasn't present for any of the inspections! Soon after the tiling work on the bathroom wall started, it had to be ripped out and done again because the tiles were visibly not being installed straight. Now the contractor began complaining to us that the inspections and rework had wasted his time and he was getting behind on this job. While performing our remodel, he started another job for someone else and now had 4 different jobs ongoing at the same time: he told us that 4's his limit. Then this contractor began complaining and making comments about other clients and jobs he was doing. Additionally, at one point he told us his crew didn't appreciate micromanagement. However, the only time we gave direction to his workers was when an agreed to aesthetic value or expected quality control were not being adhered to. As it was, the contractor was not present at job enough to correct these types of issues early in their development. We asked for a fix only when there was a problem and discussed it with the contractor either before or after the fix was made and never once did he disagree that the requested fix was an issue. Changes to the original design were made during the course of the work: we added a soap niche to the bathroom wall, an exhaust ceiling vent and extend tile at a half wall height throughout the entire bathroom which add 36 sqft. of tile work. The contactor accepted these changes since the changes were requested before work in that area began and we agreed to pay the contractors fees for the additional work which we paid upfront. During week 3 of the job, the contractor himself was on site to install a new backdoor frame and even added flashing to correct a previous water problem found during the tear out of the old door, yeah- Thank you. However, the contractor stayed only long enough to install the ready-made door-in-frame. The contactor left his tiler and drywaller to complete the exterior work which included door trim and sealing. Soon after he left, his workers asked us to go out and buy caulk to fill the 2-3 inch gaps between the doorframe trim and bldg. This huge gap certaintly did not appear correct, but they assured us that this was the normal fix - it was obvious that the door wasn't installed right. When we told the contractor the door was installed incorrectly, he had one of his crew take a picture of the problem and send it to him. He requested to come out 2 days later to fix it himself because he realized it was not finished correctly. The only thing he said to us About the job was that they didn't do it right - no kidding! Red flag #4 - Then with all of the original work agreed to in the initial estimate still NOT complete, he called and asked for payment for the balance of job plus change costs. We paid him without question. Stupid us! This type of activity of not doing the job right the first time and having to redo it continued. When we request that the incorrectly installed baseboard and door trim pieces be fixed which we annotated on the "punch list" he requested we create, he sent us an obnoxious text telling us to "quit wasting his time...and that he didn't work for free." A few minutes later he sent us a curt email saying he would fix the baseboard and trim issues. Later, via email we set a time and date to meet at the condo so he could either fix the issue or discuss how and when it would be fixed. He did not show up for the meeting. He did email us once we were already half way through the hour and a half drive to the condo saying he could not make it but that he would call or email to reschedule. 2 days later and we still have not received a call or email. Last night, we sent him an email letting him know that we would be relaying to people our negative experience with him - along with photos. We can't submit the text he sent us this morning since in it he threatened that we "better keep our mouths shut" and used extremely profane language. What he relayed to us in both the text and follow-on email (we are using cleaned up language here) is that he felt we were cheapsakes, and this was a p***-ant little sh*t job and that there was was nothing that we could do to him. What he failed to understand is this wasn't about money or wanting something for nothing, that was never the case, he was paid what he asked and when he asked for it. This is about expecting a professional job from someone who professed to be a professional. I wouldn't recommend him to anyone! I wouldn't even want my worst enemy to deal with him.