Maybe Doug and his son are OK for simple handyman jobs, but as a general contractor he is awful…read more
My project was a kitchen remodel. Doug had been recommended by friends who had him do some light jobs around their house successfully. It was my mistake for thinking he knew what he was doing as general contractor. Where do I start with the problems?
Doug gave an estimate that seemed reasonable. However, very early in the project it became clear that his estimate was far too low, and he thought it was fine to simply do the work and then afterward give me a bill for extra time without notifying me or getting my approval. For example, the electrical work was early in the project, and the actual bill came in three times as much as his estimate. Doug had done almost nothing to inspect the electrical scope of work before giving me the estimate, and had I known the actual amount he wanted to charge for this, I would not have contracted with him.
I thought that was the end of the overcharges. Then after the electrical work was done, Doug presented me an additional bill for the extra carpentry work he claimed he had to do to accommodate the electrician...he wanted to charge me four times as much as his initial estimate for drywall demo (almost $2,000 for a 100 square foot kitchen!), drywall, mud and tape, and even painting. He had not told me these extra charges would occur as a result of the increased electrical work, nor had he gotten my permission to do work beyond the scope he had estimated. Since the contract stated that additional work must be approved, and I was not notified of extra charges prior to the work being done, I was surprised to see these charges afterward.
Another example was after the paint was applied, there were many visible ripples in the drywall. I pointed these out, and Doug made them better (but by no means perfect), but he did not say much of anything, including anything about charging me extra to make it right. But after the work was done he felt it was fine to charge me at an hourly rate to fix his own errors, amounting to four times the initial painting estimate. To him it was just fine to give me a bill that far exceeded his estimate without notification or approval. When I questioned this, Doug blamed me for not buying flat paint that would hide the flaws in his work. It seems that to Doug, his estimate was based on doing the absolute minimal amount of low quality work. If I wanted work done to my satisfaction, that it was "extra" to him, justifying extra charges for time it took him to do it right. And again, none of this was communicated until after the work was done and Doug gave me the bill with surprising extra charges. This amounted to thousands of dollars in the end.
When I referred to the language in his own contract about getting approval for extra work (which was impossible for me to approve when he didn't inform me it was extra until AFTER doing it and presenting me a bill), he did not respond. When I asked via email what his estimate meant, he responded by pasting a dictionary definition of the word "estimate". Not helpful!
At one point in the process, Doug called me while I was at work, and explained that while he was rinsing mud tools in my sink the toilet "mysteriously" backed up. (By the way, who can explain why he didn't do this with a hose outside?), He told me he had pulled the toilet, rented a drain snake, and spent several hours putting things back in order. He did not tell me at the time, bu later presented me with a bill which added several hours of time for these repairs. Rather than taking any responsibility, he blamed tree roots or some unknown obstruction in my sewer, seeing this accident as a preexisting condition rather than anything associated with a clog that happened on his watch. I paid more to have a sewer cleaning company come out and take a video of my sewer, which showed no obstructions. I told this to Doug, and told him that I thought he should file a claim on his own insurance for this rather than charging me. He wouldn't even give me the courtesy of a response, and continues to insist these damages are my full responsibility.
In an attempt to resolve differences, I have already paid several thousand dollars more than what was agreed to, including work that Doug did not finish. My extra payments are not enough for Doug, who prefers to refer to my "non-payments" and threaten a contractor's lien on my property rather than answering my questions. When I wrote my last check to Doug, it was under the conditions that his acceptance of the check would be based on accepting it as final payment. If he was not willing to settle on that as the final amount, I instructed him not to cash the check until he had answered the questions I had been raising. Instead, he cashed it and insisted the situation was not settled. And of course, he still won't respond to questions.
