Joe Westgate of Westgate Cement presents himself to be an upstanding professional who is a struggling small business owner. Don't believe it! This is simply a ploy to persuade customers to trust him. He built a porch for me that is a very unsightly and unsafe structure. He started the job in early July and didn't finish until the end of August, far too long for this type of job. Unfortunately I was not in town when the work was supposedly complete and a relative paid him the remainder of the full balance on the job.
Upon my return I was apalled at the workmanship on the porch. It was of such poor quality that my neighbors and others balked at the end result. The cement was uneven, lumpy and cracked in places. The wall of the porch was bowed. The stairs were each of different height, width and tread. There was no uniformity. The final step is about 1.5 times the height of the others and one must be extremely careful otherwise you may fall when descending the stairs. After speaking to a home inspector, I found out that the porch & stairs do not meet city code and that a building permit should have been obtained. However when I questioned Joe Westgate about a permit prior to him starting the job, he assured me that it wasn't necessary as the house already had a porch and he was just changing the materials and not the size or dimensions of the one he ripped out. Joe assured me that he's done work in the city and was familar with city codes and knew when a permit was needed.in addition, Joe did not install new or replace the old railings as we agreed upon which I explained to him MUST be done as having no railings violates my homeowers insurance policy.
I began calling Joe immediately upon my return to St. Louis. He ALWAYS has some sort of personal emergency. Childcare drama. Ex-wife drama. Personal illness. Family deaths. Etc. After trying to contact Joe the entire month of September I finally reached him. I spoke to Joe regarding my concerns and we met to go over all the issues, primarily focusing on the stairs. He agreed to resolve the matter and he also agreed that he would obtain a building permit and correct the errors within the next 2 weeks. That was more than one month ago and he will no longer return my calls.
0 comments