Imperial Building & Restoration, Inc.

My name is Paul Williams. I hired Imperial Building & Restoration, INC(Sandra Gayaram) to complete a renovation of a property I purchased to be my primary residence. I hired Sandra towards the end of November 2021. I found her information on a shady 203k website that states all General contractors on the website is 203k loan certified. To my dismay, just because you have a general contractor’s license does not mean you know anything about construction. When I decided to hire her, I initially asked for pictures of work that the company has completed in the past, and she couldn’t provide anything. I then asked for her website, and social media to get more insight into the company. This was the first red flag; I went against my better judgment because Sandra made all these promises that she can complete the job in 6 months. Sandra was so eager to take on the job, she began the work without having bank approval or her own permits pulled. She hired a subcontractor to complete the work, all while I was under the assumption that she had an experienced team of her own. In addition to not having her own team, she hired the subcontractor to complete the work, because she did not have the funds to complete the job on her own. I was desperate so I allowed her to begin working. The first week went great, the foundation was laid, and it gave me hope that she would actually live up to the promises that she made to me. I was sadly mistaken, the following week when the framing and roof demo was being completed, I received a call from Sandra and the superintendent that she hired to oversee the job, that I received a stop-work order on the job, and 6 violations. Weeks passed and I am in contact with Sandra to get the violations and stop-work order resolved. She then asked me for money to pay a new superintendent and to get the violations resolved even though I was not responsible for the issues. The subcontractors got paid from the draw from the bank and then disappeared according to Sandra. I later spoke to the first subcontractor and they informed me that Sandra did not pay them what she promised and she stopped returning their phone call. I paid for the violations to get cleared out of my own pocket for the sake of time, Sandra promised to pay me back and to this day I still did not receive any of my money back. She then hired a new subcontractor and work continued to move along. The roof got completed the rear of the house was closed and things were looking up again. I was starting to think all the money I paid was worth it. We had to get a framing inspection to continue with the next phase of work, We failed the framing inspection. The subcontractor received payment for the roof and disappeared. This was the second person Sandra’s company hired that received payment and left the job. Meanwhile, I am left with mortgage payments, violations, and no one to complete my renovations. I thought this was going to be my dream home but hiring Sandra with her experience