I contacted the owner Al in May for an estimate to remodel my kitchen and bath in my 1940s home in…read moreLansdowne, PA. He came and walked through and provided a design and estimate for my project for 50K. We started the project in July. Project was est. for completion on Aug 17, 2020. I emphasized to Al, that I was paying rent and mortgage.
Relationship with Al was going good, I would check in with him regularly, and he the same. I appreciated what I thought was transparency. I was looking for another contractor to install central air into my home, Al opted to that work for $7200 which included the equipment (he cannot provide warranty like he told me). I added that he would add a new bath to the master bedroom and a closet space in my 2nd bedroom for 24K. He assured me that he could get this done in the initial timeframe, I did tell him that a completion date in Sept would be fine with me. However, the project was moving much slower that I'd expected. Al was using my site for his dumpster storage, and was completing his other jobs in the city and putting the trash in the dumpster on my site, while my house was not getting worked on. A whole week or 2 would pass, nothing was done., Project took addt'l 2 months. Al stole money, by overcharging me for the cabinets and countertops. I called the wholesaler and estimate was less by 2K. I showed him this, and he had nothing to say, and his story was he was avoiding taxes so he paid in cash. However, I was not made aware of him trying to cut cost.....because he intended to pocket my money and asked me for more. He cannot provide the actual receipts. I do like final product, but I had to inspect and follow up every step as he started giving me false promises towards the end. I paid him upfront, so delivering the final product was hard for him in the end. I showed him almost everyday and asked his workers to complete tasks that were left incomplete, because Al kept telling me he would do it, and it wasn't getting done. The final straw was, he told me that he would put my lighting fixtures up for free, in the end, he sent me a bill charging me $100 for each fixture totaling to $900. I told him, well if you want to charge me for this, then deduct it from the overpayment I paid for the cabinets, countertops, and my closet (the closet budget was for $700, he bought $100 materials and pocket the rest) He did not include hooks that was in the contract, He did not include dimmer lights in my kitchen that was in the contract, my garbage disposal was last min and the switch was placed under the kitchen sink which is very inconvenient for use. His lack of attention to detail was very prevalent. I had to supervise my project to get the money worth that I was paying for. He threatening to take me to court, I hope he does, so he can pay me for not finishing my project on time, and for the overpayment that he stole from me, storing his dumpster on my site for free.
He is a thief. His workers did well, but he's a liar and a thief. I don't recommend.
