Five Star Builders

Lousy, and to boot although they have been at it for over seven months they are still not finished and refuse to give any hint of when this project will be completed. This contractor was brought in to finish the restoration project begun in September 2008 by another shoddy contractor, Disaster America, located in Houston, Tx. (these guys are storm/insurance proceed chasers). 5 Star Builders was subsequently brought in to finish the project approximately mid April 2009. The craftsmanship is so sub par, as to lead one to believe that we actually do live about twenty miles south in Mexico!! The use of subcontractors and personnel who are not qualified to construct a teepee let alone homes. these items include; electrical, drywall, plumbing, tape and float and sand DW compound, painting/staining. The vast majority of the workers are definitely, (by their own admission) undocumented (PC way of saying illegals) workers. An example of substandard work would be; while replacing the drywall from the floor slab up 4'. they 1.) used the wrong size drywall, 2.) the taping floating and sanding of the drywall has gone from the normal 3-5" width to approximately 18" wide now, and it was textured prior to painting, however all the taping is still readily visible, despite texturing!! They are currently in their fourth attempt to fix this situation) The plumbers did not provide shutoff valves in the various water lines they installed, moved hotwater heaters in to positions that hinder the opening of doors, tried to place interior plastic piping, visibly tacked onto the buildings exterior siding, to replace the flow to the outside hose faucet which they had previously cut off from the main when they were redoing some of the interior water piping. Even though this was repeatedly brought to their attention prior to the drywall being put back up, (this was not, and to date has not been corrected) thus the need for their creative outdoor solution. The various contractors put multiple scratches in the new formica counter tops by carelessly throwing used parts and tools on top of it, with no protection for the exposed surfaces. Took out good, working electrical fixtures and replaced with the cheapest materials possible. Covered over electrical/cable outlets. also, incorrectly wired many of the fixtures. Paint and stain dropplets and smears are everywhere, including, floor, walls, trim, cabinets, doors. Lack of using dropclothes, proper prep taping, and immediate clean up of spilled paint/stain has resulted in spots and smears everywhere. (oh, I better not forget the window blind which came up missing after the painter was done, which he tried to tell me that he had not moved, however all the screwholes from the fixture mounts were painted over). They replaced a sliding window but never chaulked the inside. Chipped a brand new faux marble bathroom countertop, and didn't say a word about it. never removed, or covered over some light fixtures prior to painting. So there is both paint/stain on the glass fixture but it is obvious that they never painted the visible wall behind the fixture either. Worst of all, the contractor does not return phone calls, repeatedly is out of town leaving no one in charge to keep the work going. Better yet, they'll tell you they will be back the next day, and then they do not return for days to weeks at a time. A project that should have taken approximately 4-5 months from start to finish, is now at fifteen months and counting. (I am basing this on my twenty some years in the commercial construction and building trades as both a skilled tradesman [journeyman/mechanics] worker and contractor, as well as my civil engineering degree, with construction as my specialty). I could go on with numerous other blatant examples of but this grows very tiresome and I have many more important things to do ....... on a scale of 1 - 10 (10 being the best) this contractor would get about a 2 - 2 1/2 maximum score at best.