I purchased a 114 year old home a little more than two years ago, and Steve rented the home next door and moved in shortly after I did. He would often come over and chat while I was working in the yard -- talking about jobs he had done and the people he worked for -- their integrity, honesty, intellegence, and character. He also talked a lot about karma and work pride. It came up in conversation that I needed to have my front porch re-done. Steve wanted to do it. I was not going to hire him for several reasons - primarily because he is my neighbor. But he practically begged me to give him the job, saying "money was tight". I looked at his reviews on Houzz - there are only two. Since I felt I kind of knew him after all our conversations, and thought I could help out a little, I hired him (first mistake). He knew I was on a very tight budget and he assured me he was giving me "a great deal" and he would "make it look really, really nice" and that he'd been "doing this for 30 years". Statements he repeated many times during the next month.. He gave me a written estimate. I trusted that Steve would do right by me and I pretty much let him determine the best material to use and the style of the railings. I gave him the money for materials up front, telling him that I needed all the receipts for everything he purchased.
Lucky for me, I had an appointment with an exterminator to re-check a termite issue - the appointment was after demolition of the old porch but before Steve started rebuilding it. The exterminator noticed the extensive dry rot on all three pillars of the porch, and commented that I had better get that "removed and treated before you go much further." Steve had never mentioned anything about the dry rot....I think he was just going to leave it and patch over it. I dug out all the dry rot and treated it myself. It was extensive. Steve later filled the areas with bondo.
There were no deadlines for the porch - I wasn't in a huge rush, but Steve told me that the porch would be a "easy two day job". He was supposed to start on Feb 13, but instead started on Feb 21 and "finished" on March 20 -- 28 days. After the first partial day of work, he asked me to write him a check for half of his labor costs - which I did. And I reminded him again that I needed receipts. Several days that he said he would be over to work, he didn't show up and didn't call. He gave me every reason possible why he couldn't work from the "weather" to "feeling depressed". Granted, there were a couple of days of rain and few overcast days, but it was a covered porch. I finally told Steve that I was tired of him being unreliable. The next few days he accomplished more than the usual.
I have no problem with the job he did on the railings or laying the floor. However, the material he chose for the flooring was combed spruce. What I have since learned is that combed spruce is OK to use for decking purposes, but only if it is knot-free. This lumber is full of knots. . The flooring was immediately stained (by me), but chunks have already started to chip out of the boards, and it hasn't even been walked on yet (see pictures 1 & 2).
The last day he worked, Steve brought me receipts and I glanced at them and wrote him a check for the remainder of the labor. Because I was working, I didn't really look at the whole porch before I paid him and gave him a thank-you note (another mistake). What I later noticed is that he left the entire base of the corner pillar wide open and torn up from the dry rot removal (see picture 3). He had told me he was going to go under the house and shore it up to give it support. Never did. I also noticed a big gap - big enough to see through - between the edge of the spruce planks and the piece of wood he put all around the porch in front of the edges. (see picture 4) Additionally, there were several big, empty holes in the wood right next to my front door (see picture 4). Work pride? Wow ... so disappointed.
Then, while filing receipts for the job a couple days later, I took a closer look at them realized that I'm not really sure that all the items on the receipts are for my porch job. Hmmmm. I also noticed that the invoice for the highest ticket item - the lumber - did not look right. It just did not look like a professional layout, and there were several different print fonts used. So, I called the lumber company and they had me sent a picture of the invoice to them. THIS IS THE KICKER: It was NOT their invoice ... they said the paperwork had been "falsified". Not only that, but the total on the invoice given to me was $500.00 more than the lumber company had in their records for that sale. So, I confronted Steve and asked if there was anything he wanted to tell me about the materials he purchased. He said "no". When I told him about the falsified document, he denied knowing about it. But he never asked me WHAT was falsified...I thought that was interesting. He told me he would go to the lumber yard in two days, call me from there, and get "an original receipt" as proof. He never went. He never called. He never made it right. He apparently did look at the transaction in his bank records and acknowledged the correct purchase total in a text message to me. When I replied, asking him why my invoice was $500.00 more than the actual proven cost of the lumber, he never responded. He never made it right. No wonder the guy is depressed - his conscience is trying to tell him something.
I haven't heard from him since. I could have done a lot with $500.00.
