Contractor screwed me for $6000. Pass this on...

[tbyrne]

Long story short, I had a good friend that was a contractor and he was supposed to do some work for me. He took $6000., did about $500. in work and never showed up to complete the job. Then he laughed when I asked him to give me the rest back. The whole story and his smiling face is now listed at -

Beware Home and Garden!

I'd appreciate it if you can pass this to other boards that your on. Just take the info and run! I really want to spread the word here! Alot of the New England sites are going to be getting this info along with some of the local media. It's time for him to pay the piper... one way or another!

Thanks!

[FreebirdSRT]

I hear about these stories all the time. I am sorry it has happened to one of our own here on 3CF. Plus you lost a friend over it, although, he wasn't much of a friend and you had to find out the hard way.

I don't usually mess with remod's. I am a new construction, Custom Home builder.

Never, never, never give all the money up front for the total job.

Next time you go to do this. If $6,000 is the total job for the remod. Only give what they need for material, up front. Make sure they give you receipts for all money spent. If you are not comfortable with that, tell them you will go with them to buy the material needed for the job. Then you pay them the difference, for work completed on the job. If the job will take several weeks, you pay what you think is fair and both agree on for each week of work/progress. Before you sign the deal, let them know that you will hold back $1,000 of the $6,000 job total. If city inspections are required, for the remod., tell them you will pay them the $1,000 once all green tags are issued and the city signs off on the work. If no inspections are required, tell the builder that you will pay him is $1,000 when you are satisfied with the job.

If they are an honest and reputable construction co., those issues will not be a problem with them.

On the few remods I have done. I give a turn key bid of labor and materials (job total). My customer service differs in that I do not require any money up front for the job. I get the material to the site and the crews and they start the work. I have so many accounts (lumber, concrete, etc.). I charge the materials to my account. I only ask from the customer is to pay the labor weekly. I will get paid for the materials and my time only when the job is done and the customer signs off.

[srt8danno]

We hear so many of these types of stories down here with unscrupulous contractors ripping off the elderly and anyone else they can get their greedy paws on. There was a recent one dealing with a pavement company that was promising to do driveways and never bothered.
Sorry this has happened to you and you’ve lost a friend over it. I hope you’re able to get some type of compensation.

[BlkLikeMe]

Sorry to hear about this. I know someone who lost $25k and was left with a huge opening in their home enclosed with plastic once their contractor skipped town on them. Of course they paid the guy IN FULL UPFRONT..SMH. That's great advice that Freebird listed above for those with future projects in mind. May the contractors that half azz do a job, use inferior material, drag a project out et. al. rot in hell with the slew of telemarketers, bad car salesman and so forth lol Sorry this had to happen to you. Really good of you to be proactive and hit him in his pocket with loss of future jobs though

[Hemi57]

That is an excellent dossier you have assemble and published about this dubious character. 1777 hits. Good to see this is getting plenty of exposure as this guy is likely to turn up somewhere else in the country as he burns his customers in each city.

[phillips2024]

Originally Posted by tbyrne

Long story short, I had a good friend that was a contractor and he was supposed to do some work for me. He took $6000., did about $500. in work and never showed up to complete the job. Then he laughed when I asked him to give me the rest back. The whole story and his smiling face is now listed at -

Beware Home and Garden!

I'd appreciate it if you can pass this to other boards that your on. Just take the info and run! I really want to spread the word here! Alot of the New England sites are going to be getting this info along with some of the local media. It's time for him to pay the piper... one way or another!

Thanks!

sounds like every lawnscaping company around here

[greedyk]

Originally Posted by tbyrne

Long story short, I had a good friend that was a contractor and he was supposed to do some work for me. He took $6000., did about $500. in work and never showed up to complete the job. Then he laughed when I asked him to give me the rest back. The whole story and his smiling face is now listed at -

Beware Home and Garden!

I'd appreciate it if you can pass this to other boards that your on. Just take the info and run! I really want to spread the word here! Alot of the New England sites are going to be getting this info along with some of the local media. It's time for him to pay the piper... one way or another!

Thanks!

Sorry to hear that!
I hope you send him the link to your home and garden website!
You could take him to smalls claim and let him explain to the judge what he did for $6000.
You can show the check and pics from what he did do!
Good chance you walk out of court with $5000
Good luck
Gary

[tbyrne]

Looks like he's working on getting customers through Craigslist now - Google

More victims in MA!

Thanks for the advise guys. It's sad to see that there are alot of contractors like this. I've given it some time for everything to straighten out. Now it's time for me to put alot of effort into it. He'll be getting a call from me at 12:01 in the morning. It's time that he knows that it's... game on!

[srt8man]

I'm sorry to hear about your troubles. It's usually best to not let friends do work for you, because if they screw up, then it can ruin your friendship, as was the case with you.

I had a similar problem with a friend who finished (most of) my basement. He did great work, and he did eventually complete it, but it took him over a year even though he didn't have any other job. I felt that really stretched our friendship at times and would never enter into that kind of a deal again with any friend.

[phillips2024]

in my experiences every contractor has sucked! ou have to be on them about it all the time. hound them over and over to get it done