I went back and forth trying to decide if I was going to write this review, and the bottom line is I wanted to make sure the same thing did not happen to another hard working family. What was done to me was very disappointing and wrong. Chris even threatened saying if I write a bad review that two can play that game, knowing I myself own a business. I'm not going to let someone bully me into not telling people about my bad experience. So, We decided to add a deck to our house and we had 3 contractors come out and give us bids. I decided to go with Chris because I liked him and he sold himself as being the more expensive guy but well worth the price because the work was going to be done right the first time. Which meant a lot to me as this was a very expensive project and I wanted to make sure it was indeed done the right way, So I was ok paying more. I'm going to try and make this review as short as possible. I told Chris I wanted to do the deck the correct way, and we wanted to pull the permits. I knew nothing about El dorado county and the permit process. Thats exactly why we were hiring someone like Chris. He said he was familiar with the entire process. After we agreed to the price and what was going to be done, Chris insisted on starting ASAP. He said there was a break in the weather and that he wanted to start working. I asked if that was ok even know we did not have the permits. He insisted that they could start digging the wholes and cementing then posts in along with putting up the Joist and the frame of the deck. I trusted Chris, and I told him as long as thats legal and its ok with the county I was ok with them starting the project. He told me you can get the permit mid way through the project, and that it wasn't a big deal. They started working. I should of known something wasn't right when after the first week of work he was admit about getting paid right away and he was already pushing me to start working the next week.It was then I decided to go to the county myself and try and get the permits. This is when things got real fun! They informed me that not only did we need a permit before even pouring all the cement, but the deck needed to be engineered!! I was Shocked. I confronted Chris and asked how in the world would a veteran contractor not know the laws in El dorado county?? He said that he usually works in the bay area, and that in the bay area you don't need a permit before starting the work. By this time as you can imagine, my trust in chris is starting to fade. I call a very busy contractor friend of mine and beg him to take a couple of hours to come to my house and just double check the work that Chris and his helper had already done. My Friend is one of the most respected contractors in El Dorado county. So He comes to my house and checks their work...IT WAS A DISASTER!! Measurements were so far off, that it was unfixable. The Cement holes were not wide enough and did not have the correct bars in them. Needless to say, the ENTIRE project was done INCORRECT! I was spinning! I felt completely hassled. I went to the engineers office and showed them what had been done, and they told me that basically I had to tear everything Chris did down, and start completely over. I sat down with Chris and asked him how could they have made so many mistakes??? I told him what the engineer said needed to be done, and what the county told me. After arguing for 20 minutes, and listening to Chris use every excuse in the book, I realized that this was not the first time something like this has happened to him. He was very slick with his wording, and I could tell he was good a bullshitting his way out of problems. I wasn't having it. I told him that I wanted a complete refund. I paid him Over $3000 for the first week. $950 for my deposit and over $2300 for the first week. He of course said No. He told me that he would give me my deposit back but nothing else. Long Story short...I'm probably lucky to have gotten even my deposit back. I ended up having to pay over $2000 to have someone come in and REVERSE everything Chris did. Before even having another contractor start the job. It took 3 guys a full week of taking down and fixing everything Chris did before we were even able to start moving forward on the deck the right way. I have defiantly learned a lot from this process. All I can tell people is do as much homework on the contractor your thinking about using. And if they don't have reviews, then DON'T use them! Theres a reason bad contractors dont have reviews! read more
