A house I own jointly with my brother experienced a small fire in September. Since I didn't want to deal with the troubles involved I asked my brother to take car of it. He signed a contract with Mid-State Builders, an "Insurance Repair Specialist", at the suggestion of an independent insurance inspector. The contract was signed on Dec 20.
As of todays date July 21 the job is still not finished. What makes this important was that the house is a 940 square foot two bedroom one bath house and the damage was limited to smoke damage, since the neighbors put the fire out in a matter of minutes. The contractor began work in January and the project should have been finished in a few weeks. The contract stated that he had 105 days to finish the project. (others be warned of this) also there was nothing in the contract as to what would happen if the project was not done within that time frame.
Since my brother and I are out of town owners he delayed the project sometimes sending people over for an hour or two, and then no one would show up for weeks. He did none of the work himself, but hired subcontractors to do all the work. The bath tub was supposed to be refinished to match the tile floor, and a refinisher was called out to paint the tub, at the same time the hardwood floors were being refinished which resulted in the tub having a finish like sandpaper. The tub refinisher was called out three more times, never getting the job done right. The bathroom was painted the the wrong color two times, and the contractor refuses to paint it the right color. The first time the color of the sink and toilet that were going to be replaced, yellow, the second time a brownish color, nowhere close to the floor tile.
The contractors latest letter states, " I was instructed by you to have my painter select a color that closely matched the grout of the tile in the bathroom. This was done per your instructions.
I feel no obligation or responsibility toward the color of this paint and will not re-paint the bathroom." I actually provided the contractor a sample sheet from Koler, after the first paint job and asked him to match that, which would be the same color of the newly refinished tub, new sink and tolet. The color of the tile grout is a chocolate brown.
The contractor submitted the insurance company an eleven page computer generated sheet with all kinds of numbers and things that he was replacing. I had an independent handyman come to the house and review the sheet, and it was evident that many of the things that were in the sheet were not done, and in so, there should have been a change order and credit for each, such things as crown molding in the kitchen, using the same door jambs but charging the insurance company, inflating the amount of baseboard and the sq footage of every item. Only supplying the cheapest materials, plastic particle board doors, molding, and trim, when what was removed was wood, and really didn't need to be replaced, only two doors were fire damaged, and just slightly.
Using the cheapest particle board cabinets, and tiles in the kitchen and when I asked for something different I was charged additional money, when the originals were well built quality from 1951.
Everyone who has seen the house notes that my brother and I were scammed big time. One gentleman summed it up nicely, " you got a 50,000 dollar paint job." And when I called the contractor on it regarding why a project like this should have taken so long his response was..." I reject any notion or claim that Mid-State Builders has not performed in a timely manner." When I said I was going to keep the final payment of the insurance co. For 1400 dollars for a new breaker box (another story of reused conduit, and parts totaling less than 200 dollars) but the insurance company being charged 1400 dollars, I was treatened with a lien and litigation.
When I asked the contractor how he could justify almost 50 thousand dollars in repairs to this house without even puting in one piece of wood, (the major scope of repairs was to re-sheetrock one small bedroom and half a hallway,) his response was " Bill my profit margin is none of your concern." That was the trigger, because it is my concern and everyone in this country who has a homeowners policy, and anyone with an insurance policy in general. Contractors like this think that no one is going to go through the details of their proposals and question anything so they inflate almost everthing, and who pays? You and I and all homeowners.
In the mean time we wait eight months and longer for what should have been done in no longer than a month or two, as the contractors drive away in their fifty thousand dollor pick up trucks laughing at us and the insurance companies. You scammed the wrong guy this time Mid - State Builders, as your profit margin IS my concern and everyone elses to.
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