About

Just a consumer (67) who had a number of things done at my home after the pandemic. I had a room addition put in so I could rent out a room, a small building constructed in my back yard so that I could continue my fitness business via zoom, and a falling down patio roof replaced. These took every penny I had in retirement funds.  All of them turned into a nightmare and they all involved different contractors. 

The first contractor (George aka "A Nice Guy") built the fitness building.  He said it would take 3 months (it’s a prefab enclosed patio) yet took 11 months to finish it. He left my project for last constantly because he wasn’t making much money on it. Was always running off to bigger jobs. I lost most of my customers because they didn’t want to wait more than the 3 months I told them it would take. I filed a complaint with the CSLB about him and got his bond company to pay out several thousand dollars for incomplete work (leaks, no step put in, crooked door, etc.).

The second guy (Jerry) said he was licensed and put the number on all his documentation. He did several small projects for me which I thought were excellent and at a good price. I then had him do a bedroom extension. He quoted me one price and then consistently drove the cost higher and higher.  A year and a half later it was still not done. My son stepped in to help me pay the additional money to him to complete the project (40K). 

Jerry was to replace my patio roof too. A simple quick job that shouldn’t have turned into a big deal. He quoted me 8K and then the minute (and I do mean the minute) he had ripped it all down he said that the job was going to be 3x as much because the plans were more extensive than what he thought (which he got through his own architect).  He did not even look at the plans until the roof was demolished. I paid him the 8K but refused to pay anymore until something was completed. There were still a lot of items from the room addition that weren’t done because he kept saying he would get to them when he did the patio. At that point he turned on me and abandoned the project leaving my roof exposed to rats and rain in December. I filed a complaint against him. Through the CSLB agent I found out the license he was using was not his own. It was from someone in Lancaster (Robinson), far away from Duarte where I live.  I never met the guy.  I filed a complaint against the license holder too and complained to his bond company and received $25K from them. I tried to sue him as well but he declared bankruptcy so now I get $50 a month for 6 years.  Jerry I sued in small claims court where I was awarded the full amount $12,500.  He still does everything under the table, works every day, and never skipped a beat.

Because my roof was exposed and a person from the city felt bad for me, he referred me to someone who does a lot of work through the city. I was assured he would do a good job and give me a good price.  But by this time I was skeptical and when that contractor (Enrique) started insisting that I pull the permit for him to do the job I checked his license status and found out he had his license suspended 35 years ago!  

After that, since I had the 25K bond money to complete the projects I hired another contractor (Gilmer).  He was newly licensed, seemed to be proud of his accomplishments and would do all the work that needed to be done. I hired him and again, the delays started.  What was supposed to be done in a month dragged on and on and on.  Bigger jobs got in the way.  Every time he asked for money I gave it to him but I kept seeing really shoddy work because he wasn’t doing the work. I thought I hired him alone to do these things but he was sending people who were totally incompetent (i.e., instead of telling me a gate won’t open fully if they put in a step near a door, they cut the step at an angle so it would fit – if it wasn’t so inept it would have been laughable). Seems like his workers were doing all the work and everything had issues.  It’s all documented because I filed ANOTHER CLSB case against him! He was working without worker’s compensation and had his license suspended. His bond company just gave me $2068 for things he did incorrectly or not at all. Later when it rained there was a leak in my roof due to his ridge cap installation. He's paying me another $2500 right now to avoid more complaints against his license.

The last person who I hired (Jorge) had a license when I hired him. He came and fixed most of what was remaining along with his workers. By the time he was done, I checked again and his license had been suspended. He also never had worker’s comp for anyone, claiming he did all the work himself.

All of this has made me think that I am certainly not alone. This must be going on everywhere. I get people coming to my door weekly soliciting construction work and now I take their card, look them up and see that they are either using someone else’s license or not licensed at all. This is why the true, good contractors charge so much money. Most people will pick someone who will save them money but in the long run there's often nothing but problems. Check out some statistics I've gathered on this site. You will be appalled.

Consumers need an advocate for this. So here I am. :)