DO NOT HIRE
Please read below so you can be saved the heartache my family experienced after entering into contract with Advanced Building & Construction LLC. owned by Jim Tokunaga but the contractor license and agent is listed under George Lutz. A previous business Jim operated under was TruBilt, LLC. Please research heavily and don't take our word for it.
We hired Jim in Oct 2021 to do a full kitchen remodel estimated at $45k and paid a $15k deposit. It was Jan 2022 before the demo started. That was when we no longer had a functional kitchen with running water etc. There were always excuses why workers did not show up. Workers were not licensed professionals just people doing handyman work they were not qualified to do. We were still without a functional kitchen in July 2022 when we finally terminated the contract after a multitude of attempts to resolve the problems. Mr. Tokunaga would periodically have workers begin a task to get back into our good graces, only to have him fall flat again and again.
To complete the kitchen remodel, we had to pay other contractors even though money had been paid to Mr. Tokunaga to complete those tasks. The cabinet subcontractor refused to complete that job because he was not being paid although we had already issued payment to Mr. Tokunago for the full cabinet completion. The licensed electrician we hired after terminating Mr. Tokunago stated the wiring was so bad it could have caught fire at any moment.
When we terminated this contractor in July, we still had no running water, no sink, no appliances, no counter tops, no backsplash, and holes in the ceiling where his subs cut into the sheetrock in the wrong areas. Not to mention other faulty workmanship issues that were corrected by me.
There is so much more to be said, but please do your due diligence and look up the lawsuit of Schmidt vs Advanced Building & Construction LLC in Kershaw County SC. We have a 2 inch binder filled with all our evidence and willing to share.
After termination, we had to pay licensed professional to complete the kitchen and repair all the items that were done incorrectly and even hazardous. Money we had already paid Jim to do. When we hired our own licensed electrician, he stated our kitchen wiring was so bad it could have caught fire at any moment. At time of contract termination, we still had no running water or appliances or completed cabinets or countertops. So much more to tell but please look up lawsuit for just some of the details. Schmidt vs. Advanced Building & Construction, LLC in Kershaw County, SC. We have a 2-inch binder filled with all of our evidence and willing to share. The picture below are just a few of many workmanship defects. read more