We contacted David Ringo Avalos in March as part of a major remodeling project for our home. We were working with two other builder contractors for new siding and windows. We also were working with a Landscape Architect to redo our yard. We explored options for installing a new sidewalk in the front and backyard replacing the existing driveway, aporch and patio extension and staining and scoring the final project. We asked Mr. Avalos for references and to "see" actual work done by his company. We contacted the BBB online using only his phone number and it showed that there was no activity. We did a web search and did not find anything that caused any suspicion. We searched City records and learned he was indeed licensed.
Mr. Avalos took us to three different residences where we viewed his work. He told us he had received a large contract from SAWS and showed us photos of a work crew working on a large water tank. He was very nice and available to us. We signed a contract, paid him to reserve a start date and the day before he was to begin work he picked up the first installment.
He did not begin work, did not return any of our phone calls, only Gloria his wife would tell us he "might" begin work at some point. After many such calls we went to the address on the contract to discuss a firm start date. Mr. Avalos became very angry that we had come to his home. We attempted to address the following:
1. Mr. Avalos had not begun any work on the start date or any other date after picking up the first payment. He did not contact us on any of the days Gloria said he would call.
2. Mr. Avalos nor Dream Resurfacing had not applied for any of the permits to do concrete work at our home.
3. Mr. Avalos had presented both checks for payment in cash.
We requested documentation of the accounts where those checks had been deposited. The State of Texas Property Code, section 162.006, stipulates that for jobs over $5,000 contractors are required to deposit the trust funds within a construction account in a financial institution until the work is completed.
Mr. Avalos became very confrontational, gave many excuses as to why he could not start, and threatened to take 6 to 8 weeks to complete the project if and when he ever started. We told him we were no longer interested in his services since he had violated the contract and we wanted our money returned. He laughed and said, " see you in court and I will destroy you and take everything you have including your home". As to the escrow account he was to keep with our payments, he told us it was no one's business what he did with that money.
We filed a complaint with the BBB. We also did a national search and found there were many complaints about this company. We learned that if you only fed in a phone number online at the local office nothing showed up. The BBB has since corrected this problem.
Mr. Avalos did not respond to the first BBB notice or the second BBB deadline. After the deadline had passed he finally sent this response: "The only response I have for these individuals is that they were rude and anal towards me and my wife therefore deriving the response they got. Another thing is these people took three weeks plus to make a decision even checking references, we are very capable of starting this install when these customers are ready. If the BBB can help in any it would be greatly appreciated".
In his response, he did not offer any clear start date and this was now almost two months after the intial contract start date. The BBB told us they could do nothing more at this point.
We took Mr. Avalos to court and he did not show up. We won by default and now have placed a lien on him. What we have learned through hours spent online researching this individual and his company, more then any consumer would do to hire a company is the following:
Mr. Avalos did have a license from the City of San Antonio. It is license TS1305. This is issued by the City of San Antonio and allows the holder to do concrete curb, sidewalk and driveway approach work within the public easement. The license does not alow the holder to do any concrete work on the property of a home owner. This information was provided to us by Michael R. Constantino, Chief Building Inspector, City of San Antonio Development and Business Center, on November 10. Mr. Avalos as of this date has not renewed his license and because of our conversation with the Chief Building Inspector, there is a hold placed next to his license.
The above information means that one of the references we were shown was installed in violation of San Antonio City Codes.
Mr. Avalos told us he had work crews working all over the city of San Antonio. However, a search of permits issued by the city of San Antonio for the time period of January 1 through December 31 show only 2 individual permits issued to Dream Resurfacing for concrete work. The permits were for driveway approaches.
When Mr. Avalos showed us photographs of his crew working on a project for SAWS he lead us to believe that his company had been awarded a major contract.in searches of SAWS public data now available online, we could find no listings for either Dream Resurfacing or Mr. Avalos.
When Mr. Avalos picked up the check on the morning of April 26 he told us he was going to start the permit application process before he went to Blanco for the final inspection of the job he was finishing up. Mr. Avalos did not begin the permit process before he went to Blanco.instead, Mr. Avalos went to our bank to cash the check he had been given.
When we told Mr. Avalos that we learned of his business through the 2004 SBC Yellow pages under the ad which listed Dream Resurfacing offering "concrete and decorative concrete, commercial and residential, new, removal, resurface, driveways/patios, sidewalks, pool decks, curbs, garage floors, finishing crews, he did say there were any false claims in his ad.
Mr. Avalos lead us to believe he lived on Canyon Oak in Schertz TX down the street from a driveway he showed us. He parked in front of the house on Canyon Oak and proceeded to walk towards the front door waving good bye to us as we drove by. We were impressed by the neighborhood and the quality of the house he lived in. This lead us to conclude that his business was thriving and successful. An internet search using his primary phone number shows that Mr. Avalos has lived at many addresses in San Antonio. None of these address are the one on Canyon Oak in Schertz.
After the court judgment was issued we began researching property listings both personal and business. We spoke with Bexar County Appraisal District personnel and were informed of the 2006 Business Personal Property Rendition. This Texas law requires businesses to annually report their business personal property assests to the apprasail district in which the property was located on January 1. Yhe value of the business should then appear on the tax roll. This also applies to a business which operates out of a private residence. We spoke with Mr. Tom Belk at the Bexar County Tax Appraisal District. There was no record or listing for either Mr. Avalos or Dream Resurfacing. They were quite interested to note that he had not been paying any taxes on his business.
Mr. Avalos continues to do work he is not legally licensed to perform. He continues to advertise online and has even expanded his business to include more things. His recent website showed him to be engaging in work that he does not have a license to perform. The last website is now again no longer in existence.
We have also uncovered much more information and have filed a complaint with the Texas State Attorney General's office. We encourage all who have had bad experiences with this business or Mr, Avalos to follow our lead. Through public records we have uncovered the following information which may be helpful to those who are trying to retrieve their money.
Mr. David Ringo Avalos
Former residence, Houston, TX
DOB 07/12/1966
TXDL# 01332
We did everything a consumer should do before hiring a company. We now believe that Mr. Avalos began our business relationship with the intent to decive and fuadualntly mis - represent himself in order to obtain funds to pay court fees from previous lawsuites. This is a pattern of behavior and it goes back many years. Texas is very kind to deadbeats and Mr. Avalos all too well knows this. He continues to flaunt the law and continues to work illegally. Lawsuites mean nothing to him because he never pays what the court orders and never shows up in small claims court. We have since managed to track down some of the litigants and have heard their horror stories-money lost totalling $10,000 and more. Work started and either done badly or never finished. We were one of the lucky few. Mr. Avalos never began the work. I shutter to think where we would be today if he had.
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