In a letter dated December 12 from my attorney, Verd advised Rick Shields to contact me within five days of the date of this letter and have this project completed no later than December 31. I did not hear from him. As a courtesy, on or about December 30th once more I had attempted to call Mr. Shields to see if he was planning on finishing this work. My attorney then set a letter to Mr. Shields, dated January 2 instructing him to contact him and not to contact me or come on my property.
I had several contractors give me estimates on the cost of finishing the kitchen. There are no cupboards, doors, drawers, lazy susans or hardware for the cabinets per our contract. The tile I bought and he installed needs to be torn out and re-tiled as does the kitchen bar he built. Please refer to the pictures and letters from contractors. I have been advised that the cabinet boxes are not coated three times with a water-based poly as he stated, but it has 2 coats of wood stain and 1 coat of ploy. The wall he built around the refrigerator has no finishing coat of poly. These contractors examined the work done and have serious reservations about the quality of the workmanship; for example, the cabinets on one wall do not have openings that are consistent in size the width in the first is 20 1/2; the width in the second is 20; the width on the third 20 11/16
I never informed him I was hiring an electrician or plumber.instead of hiring a separate electrician and plumber he informed me he could do the electrical and plumbing work. He installed a sink, faucet and garbage disposal. He had agreed to install the dishwasher and connect the waterline to the refrigerator. This work was not completed.
I am aware that he did not need a permit to install the cabinets. I am now aware a permit is required for structural and electrical work that he completed. That work entailed the removal of a sliding glass door and installing a window in the kitchen. Work on the window included the framing of a window and the construction of an outside wall.
A friend who is a licensed electrician stopped by for coffee and saw the work in progress. He informed me, in his opinion, it wasn't up to code and was a fire hazard. Each electrical appliance needed it's own receptor and to not be hardwired to be up to code. Every appliance was hardwired.
At first Rick was going to move the gas line to the new range. Upon examination he informed me he could not do the work. I had a licensed plumbing company who pulled a permit do the work. Rick asked me to place something in front of the visible electrical work so the inspector would not see it when he came to inspect the new gas lines. The gas line was located in the CRAWLSPACE and did not affect his work in the kitchen.
Prior to signing the contract on July 11, I paid Rick Shields $4,680.
In the original contract Rick Shields quoted me $10,000 for the work on my kitchen. I inquired how long the project would take and he estimated one week. This price includes material and labor for the cabinets as well as labor for the entire project. To date I have paid him $1,345 above that amount for labor. This does not include materials I provided for the project, such as grout, tile, laminate, lumber and stain and varnish. This includes a check I wrote Mr. Shields on October 9 for $100.00 as he claimed he didn't have enough gas to get home.
As stated above, Mr. Shields had until December 31st to contact me and resolve the situation. He did not do so. He did not complete the project in a timely and professional manner.
On October 13, I charged a gift card for Rick Shields in the amount of $1900 for work to be done in my bathroom and entryway. On October 15 I charged my credit card for $2500 to USBS Washington Street Denver for custom windows that Rick Shields had ordered for another job (house). I had no cash and at his suggestion he offered this solution. At that time, I was sure he was capable of doing the work and trustworthy. This was the last time I saw Rick except when he cam to re-measure the cabinets boxes for cupboards and drawers that he lost.
I have a signed copy of the $4500 he owes me including the $100 he borrowed for gas.
I have not received any payment to date and he has moved, disconnected his phone so that it is impossible to serve him papers.
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