Durakraft Construction
N retuApproached me with offer to do handyman work, and later remodeling for materials costs only, rn for allowing pictures of completed work on website if the company desired, collected money for ma

Ronald Kraft II approached me with an offer to do somehandyman work for me. He said that he had a crew out of state that wantedto be home for the holidays and if they worked for me rather than collectingunemployment he would not charge me for labor. He said that it would be atax write off for him and wouldn't deplete his unemployment security account, and he could use the positive reference and pictures as advertising on hiscompany website. He indicated that he had noticed my Craigs list postsoffering various items for free that could be used as Christmas presents bypeople short of cash for the holidays and said "what goes around, comesaround".
My original Craigs list post clearly indicated my personal circumstances (temporarily disabled due to accident) and my desire to have all of the oddsand ends completed by one person for a fixed price, since I was unable to dothem myself. I received numerous responses to my Craigs list ad, (more than 30) butdecided on DuraKraft since Ron indicated his interest in helping each other andhis employees out over the holidays.

We wrote up a contract which detailed the work that I needed done, which wasmainly small handyman items such as installing door trim and a small section of floor trim, replacing alight switch, fixing a dripping faucet, replacing a doorbell button, etc. Butalso included repairing two kitchen cabinets that had been damaged by adefective shut off value and waste trap, and some painting. Even though I had themajority of the materials since I was originally planning to do the work myselfbefore the accident, I agreed to pay $400 for materials for the cabinets, someoutside security lights and other miscellaneous incidentals. Roncollected the $400 in cash since he said he wanted to start right away the nextday, and didn't want to wait for a check to clear.
We also discussed the factthat, due to my allergies, I did not want the cabinets rebuilt in myhouse. Ron said that it would be easiest to take them down, and take themto the business to replace the interiors, make sure that no drywall repairs were needed underneath the cabinets, and then bring them back the nextday.
He said he would come back at 8am the next morning to start and thatthe entire job would take two or 2 1/2 days. When no one arrived the nextmorning I called and was told that they were being held up on a roofing job byan inspector who had changed his mind about the specifications (I now suspectthis is the other report on this website about this same company.) but thatthey would be here in the afternoon. They didn't make it in the afternooneither, but promised to be there at 8am the following day, which also didn't happen. There weremore delays, but eventually Ron and another man showed up with no tools, workedfor about half an hour using my tools, and then said they needed to pick up agarage door for another job and would come back later. They didn't comeback, but when I contacted Ron he said he'd be back in the morning. Noone came back, and Ron didn't return voice mail messages. When I finallyreached him by using another telephone number he said that they'd be here theSaturday after Christmas, and then when he didn't show up then either, he saidhe'd be here the Monday after New Years. He didn't make it then either, and when I managed to reach him he said that I needed to clear out my garage, kitchen and dining room so that he had room to work, and yelled at and beratedmy fifteen year old daughter when she answered the phone and told her to getoff her lazy * and move the furniture that was stored in the garage out sothat he could rebuild the cabinets there. I said that this was notacceptable due to my severe allergies and reminded him of our previousagreement on this matter. I also indicated that it wasn't possible for mydaughter to move the furniture even if there was a place to put it! Hethen said that it wasn't possible to do any of the work since I wasn't givinghim room. Most of the items didn't even require work room in the firstplace (trim, faucets, doorbell, light switches, ceiling exhaust fan, etc) andwe had already agreed that no woodworking would be done in my home. Iexplained that I had pneumonia and my doctors believed that it was beingaggravated by the deteriorating wood in the cabinets, so I needed the work doneas soon as possible. Ron said that I knew all along that he was fittingme in to his very busy schedule (even though the original agreement was to have thework completed before Christmas by a crew who would otherwise be idle). Isaid that I would be willing to hire another carpenter and release DuraKraftfrom the contract if he would simply return the money I paid for materials thatwere never received. At first, Ron insisted that I owed him for numeroustrips to my home, (presumably the trip to sign the contract and collect thematerials money) but when I said that I couldn't find mention of a tripcharge in the contract, he said that he'd send a check for a refund, but itnever arrived. When I finally managed to reach him on his cell phone hepretended to be someone else and said that "Ron" had reported ME tothe city building inspector because there was mold in my house and it needed tobe condemned. He also said that my daughter and I would be out on the street bynightfall when the city inspector called the police. There is no mold in thehouse, but there is a tiny bit of mildew in the cabinet that I hired DuraKraftto replace.
After that, he shouted that he was putting a lien on my house for 5times the amount of the contract. I'm not sure how that's possible, sinceI paid him in full, but that's what he said he'd done. He continued shouting that I was ripping him off because I should be paying him what I collected from my homeowners insurance for the leak (although homeowners doesn't usually cover plumbing leaks since they are not considered sudden or unexpected, which a contractor should know). He also shouted that I had presents under my Christmas tree so obviously I had more money that I could have given him. Even if the presents hadn't been the ones that I was donating to the less fortunate, (which he already knew about) I cannot see how my personal Christmas celebration had any effect on our contract, or was any of his business at all. The original proposal came from Ron, and I had nothing to do with costing the job at all. I simply agreed to what he proposed.
The city building inspectors office confirmed that the condemnation rhetoricwas an idle, if a particularly malicious, threat, and that no report had beenmade. They said that they doubted that it was possible to do so anywherein the city offices. They suggested filing a small claims case againstDuraKraft and indicated that I would not be the first to do so.
Basically DuraKraft took my money and ran, and when I caught up with them, began threatening me rather than doing the work or amicably refunding themoney I paid. Anyone not wishing to pay for being threatened, or who actuallyexpects work to be done, would be well advised to steer clear of thiscompany.

Company: Durakraft Construction
Country: USA
State: Michigan
City: Clinton Township
Address: 17228 Kingsbrooke CR #201
Phone: 5869302578
Site: durakraftconstruction.net

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