Bratton's Portable Buildings

Bratton Buildings looks reputable, with advertising and home show coverage and a physical location where a few things are being built. On the basis of that community exposure, I contracted with Terry Bratton in the first week of this month to build a 12 by 20 addition to my daughter's house on my property. When I asked him for his Texas contractor's license number, he made a show of calling to get it and gave me a 4 digit number that is meaningless. There is no state contractor's license and the bonding and accountability that goes along with having one. He could have said that, but just fished out a bogus number to sooth my concerns. Sadly, I did not check Angie's List, nor did I check the BBB. Though Angie's List had nothing current on him, the BBB sure did. Mr Bratton came out, took a hasty look, said he would have his cement crew out the following week, on the morning of the 7th, drew up a hasty contract, and collected the $7000 check that he wanted in his personal name, for half of the job. He then went to the bank, cashed the check, and became impossible to reach. At that point I started asking about him at Lowe's, Home Depot, McCoy's, City Lumber, and all of the other building trades from whom I was getting prices for 2 other projects I have going on right now. Universally, the first words were "just don't give him any money up front." I would have let this dangle along for weeks more, making excuses for non-performance had there been even one person who could vouch for his character. I did have one person say his father had eventually gotten a structure that he likes, but it took a year of badgering. On the basis of his non-performance and inaccessibility, accelerated by universally poor references, I left the message with the woman at the desk who COULD have been told to call me and postpone or call me and make some excuse. I told her to cancel our agreement before anyone sticks a shovel into the ground and send a refund. I heard from him a couple of days later, with a weak allusion to having maybe "dropped the ball a little." We are headed for court and I have no intention of getting into a dispute over whether he has accomplished 10% or 80% of the task. Zero is zero. Maybe my $7000 is gone forever, but he's on the way back to jail. Because of the way this form is worded, I am stating an address where work was performed, but there has been no work, only the contract and the check cashed.

Promised to be finished by 5/2012 and we did not move in until October. He was always asking for an advance on his payments. Never came through on his promises. Workers were sporadic. Stay away from this man!