Despite the project being a disaster, I had always wanted to leave Tony a good review (or just remain silent about all the damage) because he's very likable and he's a small business owner. I didn't want this project to damage his ability to make money going forward. However, now that we've experienced about six months of him lying to our face about coming to finish the last punch item, I've finally had it and will leave the brutally honest review.
Don't mistake Tony's charisma for good character.
WATER DAMAGE Tony's crew did about $1100 worth of water damage to our house. This was because they installed new plumbing for a steam shower and then closed the wall up prior to testing the plumbing and valve system out. If that sounds like an insane thing to do--to close up the wall before you know if the plumbing leaks--that's because it IS an insane thing to do. As it turned out, when they turned the water on in the new shower, there was a signifiant leak in the shower valve, which caused water to stream into the wall behind it and onto the ceiling of the living room. They tried to downplay it, but then water came through the walls and ceiling. There was no denying it at that point.
We hired Service Master for $1100. They tore out huge portions of the ceiling and walls, as well as some of the upstairs carpet. We were subjected to the drying fans for about 4 days and were unable to use the living room. I've included photos of the damage done by all of this.
To Tony's credit, he took full responsibility and canceled the final installment payment for the steam shower, which was worth slightly more that the $1100 we spent tearing out the drywall and drying out the house. That was bad.
However, the next chapter with Tony involved lies and ignoring us, and that's where my opinion of Tony quickly changed.
PUNCH LIST ITEM AND LIES The shower was and is great, despite all we had to go through to get it. The only thing left was to correct an aesthetic mistake they made. They installed a chrome trim around the stone tiles of the shower shelf, which is just plain ugly. This is a very elegant shower, but the chrome trim really takes away from that look. Tony agreed and said it was an easy fix.
That was in late January 2021. We just needed to find a date.
Here is the timeline of trying to get Tony scheduled for this very minor last punch list item:
Feb 8, 2021: email [no response]
Feb 12, 2021: second email [no response]
March 8, 2021: text [Tony's response: "I'll give you a date later this week"] [no response]
March 18, 2021: Text: "Any updates?" [no response]
March 19, 2021: Text to Tony [Tony's response: How about the week of the 29th." My response: "can't do the 29th, can you do the week of the 5th?] [no response] J
une 4, 2021: Text [Tony's response: I will give you a date on Monday] [Monday comes, no response]
June 10, 2021: Text [no response]
June 14, 2021: Text to Tony [Tony calls my wife--he will come the following Tuesday. But then he needed to move to Thursday. Thursday comes, Tony says he has a fever.]
Tony has no intention of coming. So I will hire different person to pull out chrome and finish the project. Then I will send the bill to Tony. I have also been advised to hire an inspector to check out all the work, both plumbing and electrical, to make sure everything is up to code and safe. If it's not, I will hire additional people to remedy the problem and add that to the bill Tony gets.
If he doesn't pay (he won't), I'll file a small claims action and have the Sheriff serve Tony. If Tony thinks that by eliminating our final installment payment, he absolved himself from having to pay for any of this, he is sorely mistaken. The elimination of the final installment was compensation for the hard costs of the water damage and of the stress he caused, and nothing more. No judge will see it otherwise, and Tony will have to pay for the damages as well as the court fees.
It's a stupid lawsuit to have to file, but the courthouse is only about a mile from where I live. read more