A new "good neighbor" fence was needed at one of the properties I manage in San Jose. The owner of the neighboring property recommended Jacome Construction based on the fact that Mr. Jacome was his friend and attends the same bible study group. I met with the property owners and Mr. Jacome after receiving the Jacome Construction bid.
As a property manager I deal with numerous construction companies and general contractors. I tend to judge them based on their paperwork, their websites, and their reviews. Jacome Construction has no website, no online reviews, and Mr. Jacome did not provide any paperwork except for his bid.
I warned the property owner that Mr. Jacome had not provided us with the corresponding paperwork or even an exact start date. Of course with a lack of paperwork we invariably had a problem. The trees on the neighbor's property were in the way of the new fence. I would have contacted an arborist before the old fence was demolished but Mr. Jacome did not provide me with the start and finish dates so I was not contacted until three trees were delaying the completion of the fence.
For two days while I waited for the arborist's report Mr. Jacome called and pressured me for authorization to complete the fence. He also told me that he could shave into the trees but would only do so if the property owners signed an agreement to hold him harmless. The arborist recommended we remove the trees so that Jacome Construction would honor their workmanship. My property owner wanted to cut the trees down and prevent any future fence problems. The neighbor did not want to cut the trees down so he agreed to sign Mr. Jacome's Hold Harmless agreement since the trees were on his property and not ours. The property owners did not come to an agreement in time for Mr. Jacome so he decided to charge a "Stand By" fee for what he said was my "indecision" that resulted in about two hours of wasted time for him and his men on two separate days. Despite the fact that he was in communication with me on these two days he never preauthorized the "Stand By" fee with me.
During these two days Mr. Jacome did receive verbal authorization from me to add a lattes to the fence and install solar LED lights on all the fence posts.
Five weeks into the process I contacted Mr. Jacome to request an invoice. He provided an invoice for the neighbor's property that included the change orders I approved (lattes, lights, and cutting into the trees) and additional charges for building a box around a tree on the property and a "Stand By" fee. I questioned him about the "Stand By" fee and his excuse for not mentioning it to me on the days that he was actually "standing by" was because he was busy with other jobs.
Mr. Jacome apologized for not telling me about the stand by fee but he said he was charging me very little for wasting his time and his men's time. According to the CSLB website Jacome Construction has no employees, Mr. Jacome is the only personnel and therefore the company is exempt from having Liability Insurance. The property owner was livid and agreed that he should have heeded my warning about waiting for a contract.
Part of the reason the fence took six weeks to complete is because the solar lights were out of stock and had to be ordered. Before the solar lights were in stock I asked Mr. Jacome to update the invoice to reflect the correct job site, property owner, and our half of the bill. I also requested an Unconditional Lien Release. On July 21st I received a voice mail from Mr. Jacome saying he was on his way to the property to install the last of the solar lights and he wanted me to meet him at the property with his check. In addition to his voicemail he sent an email with his Blackberry. He said he needed to be paid immediately because he was going out of town. I responded to his email and said I would not be able to pay him without an updated invoice and a Lien release. The next morning I called him and offered to meet him, after business hours.
Mr. Jacome was 10 minutes late to appointment and did not have the necessary paperwork. I told him that I would not be able to pay him without an invoice and he interpreted that as a personal attack on his character. He said he could have asked us for a deposit and screwed us but he did not. Then in a tasteless manner he reiterated that he was the neighbor's friend and in a Bible Study class.
Rather than let the situation deteriorate I offered to meet him the following morning near the airport at 5:30am which he reluctantly agreed to and apologized for being unprepared and wasting my time.
My advice to anyone considering using Jacome Construction is to get EVERYTHING in writing and do not authorize anything over the phone. Mr. Jacome was needlessly pushy when it came to getting paid especially since he was unable to provide me with an invoice in a timely manner. read more