R M Glover Construction Services, LLC

R M Glover was introduced to us by an architect we had hired for a basement remodel, as someone who can repair a few rotted studs we discovered during the demo. He expressed interest in doing more of the remodel, so we asked him to give us a proposal. We were interested in part because we were in a hurry, with a baby due in 6 months, and because he said he'd give us a proposal and could start the job very soon. After over a month's wait he delivered an unsatisfactory proposal, with no cost breakdown or explanation of fundamental tasks --- a five-page list followed by a single cost of $137K. This was in contrast to his previous claims that he's "transparent" in his proposals (his words) and uses a spreadsheet that allows picking and choosing as needed by the budget. Nonetheless we remained interested in further discussions with him, thinking that the claimed transparency is within short reach. To revise his proposal, he wanted to be compensated for any additional time he would put into it. So we signed a time and material agreement. We also offered to pay him for his time spent for the initial proposal, but he declined, saying we didn't owe him anything for that. It all went downhill from there. We went through multiple "revisions", in a vain attempt to understand the costs, but each revision bundled the costs differently. As our confidence eroded, we reduced the scope of the work, and in the end, after having paid him over $1200 for his time, got a bare-bones proposal that allowed us to see what was going on. When we finally said, no thanks, it got ugly. We received another invoice, charging us for 12+ hours, 9 of which are reportedly spent on a weekend, on his last proposal. This seemed outrageous to us because the last proposal was supposed to be a reduced version of the previous one --- how many hours can one spend deleting stuff? Yes he was supposed to change the language here and there, but he didn't even do that as agreed. Instead, he added some things that we never asked for, and even things that we openly objected to before. On top of all this, the invoice also charged us for half an hour of time for invoice preparation and delivery. Let that sink in for a minute: an invoice, in which half an hour is charged, to *prepare*, and to *deliver* invoice. I sent him an email disputing that invoice. In response, we got nothing --- total radio silence --- for almost three weeks. Then we received a certified USPS package from him. There he referred to us by our names, followed by "a.k.a.", then our official, long-form names which we've never stated to him by that time, just like you would see in court documents. The oddest thing in the package was his offer to meet us, "in a good faith effort" as he put it, to answer our questions. This offer was repeatedly extended later, again under the odd narrative of "an opportunity to clarify and answer specific questions that you have about the estimate, the proposal and the invoice". Sounds eerily similar, doesn't it, to the process by which a contractor attempts to cure a disputed construction project. Except, in this case, there is no construction project; all we have is a proposal that is utterly useless. Recall that we had already paid him $1200+ for his first invoice. Now we were being invoiced another $800+, with insinuations of impending legal action. We made multiple attempts to settle with him. He declined them all. He even claimed that he has "made a substantial contribution to your project" --- his words. In the end, he gave an ultimatum with a deadline, and stopped responding. This essentially forced us into paying because we feared having to fight a frivolous lien claim on our home. Even ignoring all of the above, we found his professionalism and competency marginal, with occasional technical oversights, broken promises and rarely taking responsibility when confronted. (Can give examples but enough said already.) We give this person our lowest recommendation.

I cannot say enough about Rich's professionalism and his ingenuity. Our house is a 1926 bungalow that needed a lot of structural work. Rich explained all of the options to us, in great detail, and worked with the contractors and the planning department to ensure that we got the best and most cost effective option. The work was impeccable and every person involved has been respectful, organized and understanding. They even worked around our daughter's nap schedule. We have completed the first phase of our project and will only be using Rich on anything else we do.