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Contractor Hell in CA (S&M Construction aka The Mitchell Family)

In late 2007, I contacted S&M (CA License 891070 and phone 626-287-3806 or 888.273.1569..they change their numbers often), a father (Steve Mitchell Sr.), son (Steve Mitchell Jr.) & wife (Elva Mitchell) co, that specializes in roofing. Also needing gutters, exterior paint, and siding, I let S&M act as general contractor. I should not have done so. Roofing is their core competency. The siding was OK, but the detail work was not done with good craftsmanship. Old gutters were ripped out and holes…yes…big noticeable holes, were left in the stucco. I asked S&M to address. They claim it’s not their issue. Exterior painting was done reasonably well with one exception. Four heavy, metal security doors were painted wrong,with paint filling in the mesh areas. The result is a horrible look which S&M agrees is ugly. I’ve tried to get them to fix these problems (which even they acknowledge are problems), but the main guy (the son) won’t reply. He set an appointment to visit and re-do, then pulled a no-show no-call. A word of advice: make sure you pay in increments and per milestones in your project, so as to have some fallback. Once your check clears, it’s tough to get the S&Ms on the phone and even tougher to get them to come back to address problems.

UPDATE on 12/20/07: It’s gone from bad to worse. On 12/18, LA had rain showers, causing a catastoprhic, huge leak in my home. Water ran like a waterfall thru my light fixture in the den, as well as other spots. Tremendous damage: walls, ceiling, attic, laptop, printer, desk, personal memorabilia, etc..all water damaged. It was hard to get S&M on the phone that night, despite emergency phone calls. They sent someone over the next morning to patch the roof that their repair guy admitted was done poorly, but the patch is just a band-aid fix. Then, they were impossible to reach via phone to address permanent roof fix and to address all the structural and personal property damage. The contractor nightmares you hear of….I lived it, and it’s name is S&M Construction (or S&M Roofing or whatever they next change their name to). Their license number is 891070.

UPDATE on May 29, 2008: The CA State License Board held binding arbitration to resolve the dispute. I won. Of $13,550 under original contract, I was awarded $7305. S&M must pay by June 29th, or the state will revoke their license. I sent S&M e-mails. No reply. I’ve tried faxing. Disconnected. They’re running. I’m sure it’s not their first time, and won’t be their last.

UPDATE July 8, 2008: Their license has been REVOKED by the CA State License Board for failing to pay the court-ordered judgment to me by June 29th.

Tags: Uncategorized by pjbinla
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John Nuncio in Dallas - unreliable, lies and steals from customers

We recently hired a contractor in Dallas to replaster and paint our entire house…approx. 6500 sq. ft.  He said he would only do it on time and materials basis and it would take about 3 weeks.  Our mistake to accept those terms.  His entire crew were Mexicans..only one spoke English.  they took 3 1/2 months…at $41,000 until we kicked them out for Christmas.  We found numerous empty liquor bottles amongst our Christmas decoration boxes, under sinks, and in cabinets, closets etc.  He said they’d be back to finish the work.  After the holidays we tried to schedule him to finish.  He no showed repeatedly.  Then to our amazement, when we went to relocate an oil painting to another room, we discovered they painted around the pictures without removing them from the walls.  They took all the paint, and sealers and we have no idea where they got it or what code to use to get touch-up and finish those areas they didn’t complete.  He provided a fake tax ID, a phony address.  Upon doing a background check for $40 after the fact, I discovered the guy has a history of ripping people off and has done jail time for such offenses.  So, not only do we feel stupid for allowing this to happen we feel foolish for not following our instincts when we suspected something wasn’t right the first week. 

In Dallas, it is virtually impossible to get English speaking Americans to do this kind of work.  Even if you hire an American contractor, the workers show up and none speak English.  They grew up in a third world that have no standards of contruction and craftsmanship as we do in the U.S.  I fear everything they’re building in the border states will collapse from shoddy workmanship. 

In addtion they stole my 6 foot ladder, used my step stools and got paint all over them, tracked paint all over the patterned concrete driveway.

I’m tempted to place a sign in my yard that reads, “willing to hire Americans.” 

 

Tags: Admin Comments by thunse
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Washington State roofing nightmare

I had roof damage from ice and heavy snow. It broke 11 rafters. My insurance company hired this company. (pemco). The entire roof had to removed to replace the broken rafters. During this process several bad things happened. First of all they were continually stepping through my ceiling. Not once, not twice, not 4 or 4 times, but 5 times all over the house. One hole in the ceiling was so bad that the guy actually fell through in the kitchen!!! So I had insulaton all over the place under these holes. Under the area where they fell through in the garage was alot of clothing on a table. It was covered in dirty, black insulation!! Yhe biggie… They have the tarp tied down but not good enough. The wind came up, it started pouring down rain….. well the tarp came loose and it was literally raining in my house!! The ceilings were filling with water and making them sag all over the place. They did fix most of it, but it wasnt a very good fix job. Kinda half assed. There is a large crack about the sliding glass door where someone broke a large support. Brown water stains are still on the ceiling in the spare bedroom. Only repaired part of the ceiling in the bathroom so now it doesnt look the same. Small holes in many areas of the ceiling. I never knew when I came home from work what was going to be wrong. It was not a happy experience.

Tags: Blogroll by tenstepper
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