From our second email to the end of the project, I was appalled at the lack of quality and professionalism. We requested a full renovation of our entire home, from new flooring, paint, trim, cabinets, plumbing etc.
1. He said he or his site manager would visit daily to check on work. That did not happen more than once a week.
2. Most weeks there was only work going on 2 or maybe 3 days a week
3. Gary was "out of town" or "at a seminar" or "on vacation" etc, for 4 out of the 13 wks of our job. The job contracted stated 6-8 weeks to complete.
4. The plumbing job was the absolute worst-- He has 1st plumber who could not manage to get all the faucet handles to produce water.. The person who reattached our washer drying water hose, put on a hose that had corrosion and did not bother to replace it with a $20 replacement and did not secure the water line, so we used the washer and got a huge surprise of gallons and gallons of water on our new carpet and tile. Gary's response was "it was not in the contract to replace the hose". The 2nd plumber could not get the master shower piping installed correctly so Gary fired him, and had In Town Plumbing come to fix the faucets in bath so we got water from turning on hot handle and look at the piping in the master shower. Then he sent 3rd plumber out to finish the master bath and that never got plumbed correctly. Faucet handles fell off in our hands in the master, after the punch out. See comments on master below.
2. At 13 weeks, he wanted to "punch out" and yet never offered to walk thru the home once with me regarding my emailed concerns. So I made and sent him a punch list. He replied he had punched out and sent a request for remaining payments less $2000 for punch list.
3. HIs final bill was an absolute shock of $26,000 over budget. Yet he never sent me quotes on what we asked for or told me we were over budget except on cabinets. His reply to me was that he does not keep track of those costs or add up receipts until the end of the job, and that I should have asked him for those amounts. When did it become the homeowner's job to do his weekly expense report and accounting. Shouldn't he have let me know when and how much overage?
4. His painter painted over 2 of our window covering wooden arch blinds but left the rest of the wood blinds as the wood finish. We never asked or discussed painting the window wooden blinds. Gary's reply was that the contract said to paint walls and trim. I reminded him that blinds are purchased as window covering and not trim. I had to demand and deduct cost of new wood blinds for master huge window.
5. Finally, I cancelled or ended the contract due to too many excuses and not enough time / employees on the job even after 13 wks and the job was quoted at 6-8 weeks.
6. I turned on master shower for first time, after canceled contract and diverter button popped out and I could not get any water flow. I found he had lost/misplaced/ or had stolen our hand held shower and hose so it was never plumbed for master shower. Gary's reply was it was not in the contract to plumb the master for a hand held. But that cannot be true, because on our plumbing invoice, he clearly purchased the master shower faucet with diverter button and purchased hand held shower and hose and holder. Yet we don't know where that item went but had already paid for it in our final contract. When I repeatedly emailed him regarding this, he simply replied that I had canceled the contract. True, but where were the items I paid him for $780+ that were supposedly installed before punch out.
7. I have spent over $1500 getting the master shower replumbed for the hand held, purchased a new hand held, and had tile hole drilled for hand held shower. This was all out of pocket and on my own time and my own plumbers to do this.
8. The baseboards, moulding, and quarter round were installed with 1/8 to 1/2 inch gaps to the floor. I had to pay over $3000 to repaint areas where his workmen left greasy handprints on master walls, put grout on ceiling, did not caulk baseboards, painted some vents and not others. That was just another ordeal.
8. HIs attitude with any problems or concerns was very volatile. Some days friendly and some days he was just downright rude and condescending. Dealing with his site manager was no better. Repeatedly I had subs calling my cell asking questions b/c his site manager said he was at home and his cell did not get good reception. What an excuse??!!
9. Finally beware of add ons. He came to me halfway thru the second shower tiling and stated it was not in the contract to do floor to ceiling tile for showers and he want several hundred dollars more per shower, and said if I did not sign the add on order, that he would stop his man from finishing the tile. Who hands you another contract half way thru a tiling job for over $1000? His excuse was that he was behind on his paperwork. I reminded him that my mom and I discussed the shower floor to ceiling tile at his bid visit and she witnessed this conversation. He accepted my offer to pay 1/2 of that add on, not his original demand
10. Beware of your cabinet heights. I asked for taller cabinets. And the cabinets were awesome. But he "forgot to put in the contract the extra $250 per sconce per bathroom" to move the light fixtures up to accommodate when putting mirrors above 4 inch higher cabinets. His solution was to not discuss with me, but to take my expensive heavy framed mirrors with beveling to someone to "cut down the frames and rebevel" without my knowledge. I only found out and questioned him when I found mirrors in the garage with recently written our address on the mirrors which implied they were being sent somewhere. My husband, a former glazier, tells me that it is near impossible to 'rebevel' a large mirror without it showing an imbalance in the bevel from corner to corner.
What a disaster!. I have had contractors finish out 2 medical offices and 1 contractor and architect build my 4795 sq ft medical office and I never encountered the "attitude", overages, "add on" contracts after 1/2 a job done, or lack of steady work or supervision as I did with The Vaugh Group.
I pity anyone else who would have to endure this type of renovation.
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