We invested our life savings in the construction of a new home in Panama City, Florida.  We thought that we were careful when hiring a contractor.  We verified that his contracting license was up to date and that there were no complaints with the Better Business Bureau.  We thought that was enough. We were wrong!

We had a horrible experience with a building contractor and later discovered that he is an ex-convict with felony convictions for grand theft and violence.  How could he have a contractor’s license?  Neither the State of Florida nor the Bay County Contractor Licensing Dept. makes any connection between past criminal behavior and the risk that poses to unsuspecting homeowners. We didn’t do a background check as we believed that he must have already cleared background checks prior to licensing.

What is the gist of our story?  His past offenses of theft and violence are now used as the dirty tricks of his trade.  Our horrible experiences with this contractor comes under the catagories of Theft and Violence!  The regulatory agencies who licensed him without considering that his past offenses could easily be repeated in his contracting business have refused take any responsibility and he has their blessing to repeat his actions on other unsuspecting homeowners. The Better Business Bureau of Northwest Florida refuses to inform consumers that a complaint was even filed!

IF YOU HIRE A BUILDER IN PANAMA CITY, FLORIDA, do atleast a free background check at the Bay County courthouse.  www.baycoclerk.com (case search) check both civil and criminal, I sure wish that I had!

1. It’s a professional relationship for them, though it feels deeply personal for you since it’s in your home – keep a professional distance
2. No physical contact, no hugs
3. No long personal conversations
4. Try not to get caught in your underwear, or leave personal clothing lying around
5. Go to a hotel if you can and if you don’t feel the need to supervise
6. Don’t sleep with the contractor or crew
7. Realize that they’re being professional and polite to the client so any compliments or opinions are influenced in that manner
8. Don’t loan them any money or hire their relatives
9. Visit your own friends and have them over when the contractor isn’t around. Keep a life of your own.
10. When the contractor leaves, let go. Don’t try to make the relationship personal no matter what was said at the end of the project. Realize that their livelihood came from you so any personal relationship was influenced by money. You may or may not be friends, just like you have to be friendly to coworkers you don’t like.

…More Suggestions for Single Women Handling Contractors

  1. Don’t hang out at their office or next job, even if they invite you.
2. Don’t mistake professional courtesy for a deep caring for your personal problems.
3. Don’t use the crew as girlfriends or psychologists
4. Don’t gossip with the crew about your lovelife
5. Don’t attend their family functions, even if they politely invite you; Don’t assume you’re a member of the family
6. Don’t date the crew’s relatives if they are a family-oriented business
7. Don’t start working for the contractor, i.e., doing gratis computer work while the contractor is working for you; Don’t create a project to remain part of the company when they leave
8. Don’t put up with sexual harassment and mistake it for flirting
9. Don’t sexually harass the crew
10. Don’t schedule your day around the crew’s work schedule. Observe, relay your wants and opinions to the lead contractor and get out of the house if possible.
11. Don’t introduce the crew to your 19 year old daughter as if they’re good friends or family
12. Don’t assume you can trust anyone the crew says they are related to without checking out that individual yourself – it could be cousin Joe fresh out of jail
13. Don’t try to become one of their culture – hang on to your own individualism, set your own boundaries
14. Don’t let them bully you into buying more than you want to – such as another extension of a fence that would cost you 3000, but they say would make it “perfect”
15. Hang on to your house; don’t let them take over and call it their house because they’ve done so much work there
16. Don’t go to their parties – unless you want their women to confront you because they’ve talked about you so much
17. Get professional counseling for your psychological problems such as loneliness from empty nest syndrome; don’t use them as your surrogate family from 20 years ago
18. Don’t tell them how much you spend on the things you own, they may think you’re rich and they’re entitled to part of it, even if you worked 35 years to get where you are
19. Listen to your male friends and family’s advice about protecting yourself – they are the ones who love you and will be there long after the contractors have moved on to their next projects (and they understand men better than you do!)
20. Talk to at least one independent male friend about conversations that occur and things they say that you don’t understand; Don’t keep secrets “to protect the contractors” and don’t tell the contractors about that independent male friend – if they are unethical they will reveal themselves because they’re not afraid of you and they think they are the number one males in your life (but you have that ally who will tell you what’s going on and help you when and if you need it)
21. ENJOY THE PEACE AND QUIET!!! THE CONTRACTORS ARE GONE! YOU HAVE YOUR PRIVACY BACK…have a small dinner party for supportive neighbors or friends.

I’m exhausted just writing this.  That was 5 weeks ago.  The past month the contractor has promised to come by 3 times and never shown up. I was compulsively emailing and leaving messages on his phone.  Last week he stopped responding entirely.  I was lucky.  I know how to go cold turkey.

That’s given me some perspective - I don’t want them to show up, and I’ve started doing a lot of things myself again.  I had fallen into a helpless mode where I’d look for help!  So I built a little fence around my hill, replaced a solonoid and rewired some of the valves on my sprinkler system. 

I didn’t sleep with the contractors, that’s about the only thing I did right, I certainly got to close to them due to loneliness and empty nest syndrome.  I loaned them some money, but I have a promissary note and I’ve contacted an attorney who says we can recover the funds.  I’ve given them a deadline and told them not to come to my house.  I’ve told them that their office assistant can deliver the check or they can mail it.  This is a large Mexican family and the last delivery was made by the youngest sister who acted like she wanted to kick my butt.

I was very embarrassed to admit that I’d loaned them some money.  I’m a middle aged lady who was flattered by the attention of young men more than 20 years younger than herself.  I was fat and didn’t date for 10 years.  I lost 50 pounds, my kids just left, and suddenly I had 10 men in my back yard to wait on me.  The attention went to my head.  Hopefully I’ll be able to recover that loan by my deadline.  If not I’ll submit a case to civil court with my attorney, contact the BBB and the CSLB.  Apparently they only attach construction related cases to the contractor’s license but since part of this loan was made as payments on a credit card to their company it can be construed to be construction related.

They never finished all the work, but the things that are left (hanging mirrors, vent in the fireplace) are minor, so I’ll finish them myself.  By the end of the contract they were telling me what to do and running my house, so nobody wanted to help me with my little inside jobs.  I made lists, showed the contractor 3X what I wanted done, but they considered it “girl work” and none of them wanted to come in and help me finish.

As I write this its hard to believe I was so foolish.  I never wanted to be one of those mid-life crisis women who get flattered by a younger man, but I did.  I started writing this as therapy for myself, and with the hope that some other woman would see it and it might help her.

The entire time they were at my house I was sharing all of this with a coworker.  The contractors didn’t know about him, so I was receiving an objective opinion as I became steadily more isolated.  I had a party that my contractor was supposed to come to, but the wedding was a week before and he didn’t show up.  His girlfriend, who had confronted me at the wedding, told me they couldn’t come.  For weeks he had promised to come to my party and he didn’t show.  My coworker was there, though.  I’ve since thanked him for helping me out. 

They gave me a week off from work to straighten my life out as they knew something was wrong.  I was flaking out.  But I work with a group of men who care about me and are very supportive - when I tell them what was going on.  I was ashamed of being so stupid, though, but I knew the only way out was to talk.

I’m not going to have any further physical contact with that contractor and in the stages of grief I’m into the anger phase.  The loan was for over 10000 so it will be a civil court case if it comes to that.  I’ve used credit cards to live on for two months - at the contractor’s suggestion, of course.  We envisioned it as me being the one who finances the beginnings of a great company - like millionaires in the making.  I was going to create a web site for them, too and I’ve given them some free computer service. I ended up working for them!

Luckily, the contractor quit talking to me because I had started to ask him point blank questions about what was going on.  He had said we were “Best Friends” and best friends talk, don’t they? I guess this means we’re not going on that cruise he talked about (I’m being sarcastic now.)

I’ve begun to move forward on my own.  I’m reading about empty nest syndrome, addressing the 10 pounds I’ve gained, and thinking about school again.  In other words, I’m looking at what I want to do with this great piece of time I have now.  I didn’t know how bad it was until I wrote it out.  When the contractor quit responding I started writing letters to him, but not sending them, as therapy.  When you put it all on paper it’s hard to hide from.  Plus I had a friend that I was confiding in that was totally removed from the situation.  And most of the work in the house is beautiful. 

The first two months were as they should have been.  Then my brother came down to check them out .  He said they seemed like good guys and left.  After that I told the contractor how lonely it was when they left on Fridays and he said “It doesn’t have to end there.  You can come over to my house for dinner and we’ll go on a cruise in October.”  He never mentioned visiting his house again, and the following Tuesday when I called him he said he was at his girlfriend’s parents drinking beer.  That’s the only time he slipped and called her his girlfriend.  When I asked him if she was any other time he either didn’t answer or said “supposedly”.   The entire time they were at my house I have never had a cup of coffee, a meal or ridden in the truck of that contractor.  It’s always been business - though we talked many times of going to a casino, going out to eat, etc.  Anyway, when he started suggesting personal time together that’s when I got a crush on him and the relationship changed, though we never did anything.   I was going to work and they kept business hours. They would disappear at 5 and over the weekends - just like married men.

 The first two months he was on 24 hour call for any of my problems, then he assigned one of the cousins, and now - well, it’s over and time to Let Go and live my own life. I’ll get my money, pay off the credit cards and hopefully be a little wiser.  

I hired these guys to replace my roof. I think they may have actually done a decent job but I realize now I have no way of being sure. I didn’t have any doubts until I hired them to also paint the outside of my house. That’s where the trouble began.

At first they started out by setting up scaffolding, removing my storms and screens, and beginning a “power wash” of the outside. Then one day, halfway through this process, they simply stopped. It’s going on six weeks now and I haven’t heard a word from any of them. All of their stuff is still here - ladders, scaffolding, etc. but they haven’t responded to any of my numerous phone calls. My life has been in a holding pattern since I’m reluctant to have people over or take a trip somewhere while all of this is still in limbo. To make matters worse, I’ve already paid for all of the paint. Not to mention that I have no storm windows or screens since they’re all still lying out in the yard.

So what more can I do? There is no written contract for this (there was for the roof). But it’s obvious that they’re supposed to be doing work since all of their stuff is here. Can I confiscate their equipment? For that matter, how would I even go about dismantling it? I’m still hoping to resolve this somehow but it’s hard to excuse someone vanishing and not returning a single one of your phone calls while leaving your house looking like real crap.

Any advice would be most welcome.

Jason

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.

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.” 

UPDATE:  Patrick Wethington contacted the BBB on the last day he had to resolve the complaint and said that he didn’t own the company American Custom Doors and it went out of business, BUT that he now owns American Custom Doors, INC and he would make the doors. Now, I know his name was on the contract, he cashed the check, he faxed me the contract, BUT, he didn’t own the company and now  he owns the same company that has been incorporated.   This was after he emailed me and said he would refund my $$. So, now he is chickening out on the refund.  One of the companies that he listed on his now defunct shut down website - Glass Craft Doors, said they had never heard of him and that he had copied and put their images on his website.  He took them down since and his website is  “under construction”.  I will let you know if I get my money back, but I would not do business with him at all.