Doug was hired to do fire restoration after a July 9 house fire. He wanted $127,600 for the job. The first red flag went up when his promised "professional crew" was his son, daughter and his son's friend, who, I don't think ever worked contruction before.
Doug was supposed to replace 13 floor joists and the rim board on one corner of the house where the fire started. Doug lobbied the insurance company for an additional $5,000 to jack up and support the house while replacing the rim board and floor joists. Allstate reluctantly agreed.
Weeks after this work was supposedly done, I noticed there were blocks of wood between each floor joist covering the rim board that Doug was supposed to have replaced. Because of other problems with Dougs work I asked Doug if he replaced the rim board and he told me yes. I pried the block of wood out and there was the burned rim board he never replaced. Replacing this rim board is something that was specifically mentioned in Doug's contract.
The rim board and the following roof episode all happened one afternoon. The next morning we fired Doug.
The fire dept had cut a hole in the roof and Allstate was allowing for the entire back side of my roof to be completely stripped down and everything replaced from the drip edge right up to and including the ridge vent. After Doug was on the job for quite some time and already recieved 2 payments, each of $29,188, I called Doug and asked when he was going to replace the roof. He said the roof was done. I told him I looked at the roof and it didn't look like it was done.
His exact words were "didn't you see all the shingles in the dumpster?" I told him I was at the house everyday and never saw any sign of the roof being replaced. His reply "Didn't you ever hear of clean-up? We used tarps. We're still picking up nails." He said he had reciepts.
I went to the house and got up on the roof and all Doug did was weave in some new shingles where the hole was. He did not replace the roof. When confronted again he still swore he replaced it. Finally when it was clear I wasn't buying it he said he hired some guy he met at Home Depot and had a reciept for the job but of course, he never produced that reciept.
Finally caught in the lies Doug said the roof was fine and the house was structurally sound even without the rim board replaced.
Early on Doug started doing finish painting. The electrician was far from being done and the heating contractor hadn't started yet. He charged $1650 for to "prep walls for paint" but painted over cracks and holes. Anda few cracks he did fix he charged me extra. The quality of the paint job was horrible!
When I complained he said "it's not done yet".
Doug installed 4 small windows and 2 medium size windows. I was there for one of the small windows and one of the medium windows. It literally took him no more than 15min to remove the old window and install the new windows. Yet he charged $210 for each of the small and $265 for each of the large windows. I had removed all the trim from the inside of the windows, the siding was all off the house already because he was residing the house (another nightmare) and I'm replacing the trim and finshing the windows. These were top of the line Pella windows.
After he was done the windows didn't work very easily and were near impossible to lock. He didn't shim any of the windows. I had to hire a Pella installer to come and fix them.
Doug replaced the vinyl siding on two side of the house. He was supposed to and got paid to replace all the j-channel, soffits and facia but didn't. The siding job is the worst I've ever seen. He cut the siding too long. Drove all the nails all the way in and nailed at the ends of the slots. The siding is pulled up so tight and nailed so tight it won't move at all.
As a result it's buckling all over the place. He also nailed at the ends of the slots. Bottom line, it needs to be removed and rehung.
I could go on and on and on. Doug got paid over $58,000. He paid an electrician $5,250 and a mason $2,500. The rest he pocketed. We think he owes us around $30,000. Doug's contract said any dispute would be decided by an arbitration board.
We also filed a complaint with the Consumer Fraud Bureau in Kingston NY. Doug's only response was from his lawyer who said they were would only go through an arbitration board. We agreed to arbitration but now he's not willing. So there is a negative report on him with the consumer fraud bureau.
My opinion is he's a bold faced liar and a crook. Even when he actually completed a task it was sub-par workmanship.
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