Manatis & Sons Construction

RUN AND NEVER LOOK BACK! Manatis and Sons are thieves and have operated under a variety of names in the Hampton Roads area, including most recently Virginia Beach Fence. It doesn't matter what name they use, do NOT deal with any of the Manatis family (father, Justin (son) and Kris (son)). Similar to other reviews, we contracted to have our entire backyard fence replaced. We did our homework, including contacting references, although apparently we didn't do it well enough. After contracting with Manatis & Sons, Justin asked for a $4000 deposit to purchase materials which we provided to him. We never saw him again. We made repeated attempts to contact him. Initially he responded to our calls and gave us the run around..."my dad has cancer and I'm caring for him", "I need to finish up other projects but will get to you soon", etc. Eventually he did not respond at all and allowed voice-mail to pick up our calls. However, if you called from a telephone number with which he wasn't familiar, he did pick up the call assuming it was new business. Funny how that is! Bottom line was we needed to go to court to get a judgment against him and his company. Our initial court date got pushed back because Justin claimed he had just received the summons the day before. On the 2nd court date, Dad showed up but no Justin. When asked by the judge where Justin was, Dad responded that he didn't know and hadn't seen him in quite some time. Imagine our surprise when, after getting a judgment in our favor, Justin appeared at the back of the courtroom as we were leaving! Not only are they theives, but liars under oath! Although we won the case, there is no way to get our money back. When the sheriffs go to his home of record (which is his father's home), Dad continues the tale that Justin doesn't live there and he has no idea where he is. Since this company changes names every time it has "bad press", beware of any person with the last name of Manatis, regardless of the company name. Contract with them at your own risk!

We hired Justin Manatis on April 26, 2011 and he told us he would be out in about 5 weeks to begin. In May he asked me if I could purchase the supplies, which would be deducted from the remaining money we owed him. So I met him at Home Depot and paid with a personal check for $1800.00 in supplies for my fence. In June, the first week, the concrete and posts were delivered to my house. In the next few weeks Justin kept telling me he was having problems finishing the fence he was currently doing and would be out ASAP. In July we didnt hear much from him. He would say he was going to be out time after time and then he would make excuses as to why he never showed up. He used excuses such as: it is too hot, a family member died, or something was wrong with his truck. In August, he swore he was going to do my fence and was going to be out. He showed up 1 day and cut down a tree and dug ONE hole before he left. That was the last time I seen him. He sent me a text on August 26, 2011 about the concrete in my driveway. He told me that it would be safe with the Hurricane Irene about to hit. That was the last time I heard from him. Since the end of August until now, almost Thanksgiving, we have not heard from him. He ignores all text messages, has blocked my husband and I's cell phone numbers, and will let voicemail pick up if we call from the home phone. I called Home Depot to cancel the rest of the supplies and they informed me that in June the supplies were picked up and some of them cancelled by Justin Manatis, so he stole at least $1500.00 in supplies. The concrete was ruined in the hurricane and no other company will use the posts, so I am also out the price I paid for all of the supplies. We are now awaiting a court date to try and get our money back.