We ended up firing Jimmy after over a year of delays. He tries to talk his way out of everything…read moreand there was always an excuse. There was never any daily work getting done, weeks and sometimes months would go by before the next milestone was met. To summarize, if you want to pay everything up front, to be gaslit the whole time, have material delivered from Home Depot and go weeks without progress, have to call and text your contractor daily just to get something done, and the work that is completed is below subpar, then you know who to hire. If you're interested in our experience then please continue reading!
We signed a contract Nov 2023 (JMDC) for a kitchen addition (we'd provide flooring, cabinets, finishings, etc.) with the intent of starting in the spring of 2024, had minor set back which was understandable and acknowledged and August 2024 was when work started (excavated and concrete footers poured) and we were told by end of October 2024 work would be completed. In October we signed a new contract with his new company name (Buxmont). No further work was done until the last week of October when cinderblocks were finally installed. Due to being told a finish date of October we ordered our cabinets and they sat in our house boxed up for over a year. By Nov 2024, $54,000 was paid with only cinder block to show for it. He asks for more and more money without any work to show for it, we now know that is a huge red flag and besides maybe a deposit, the work gets done then they get paid. In Dec, and then finished in January was subfloor, insulation and plywood. Mid January one wall framed. Jimmy discovered tie-in issue, demolished part of our bathroom (this could have been avoided and was yet again a delay and more money) he started bathroom tile demo Jan 16 2025. Bathroom tile didn't get finished until March. From Jan til March we had leaks in our existing kitchen and water damage, plus the work that did get done was exposed to the elements. Mid March wall framing finally continued and a tarp was placed over the subfloor. In April we hired an attorney and sent a formal letter outlining contract breaches, delays, and HICPA violations, requiring completion by June 15, 2025, which Jimmy agreed in writing. Work was done a total of 4 days in the month of April : plywood on walls and beginning of roof framing. Then more delays and the wrong windows and door were delivered. Roof didn't get shingled until June. Aug 19, 2025: Siding installed, which mismatched color and size despite contract stating it would match what existed. End of August the windows and door were installed and a deck was partially framed. We didn't see him or work done again until October, when the wall between addition and existing house was finally demoed; significant water damage and mold was found on our existing kitchen cabinets. The support beam that was installed, was not according to the permit and disrupted the kitchen layout, cutting into planned cabinet area. Beam and ceiling framing was unlevel.
We had finally had enough and I was fortunate to have had a family friend help us out. We had the township inspector come out as a courtesy so we knew what had to be fixed and mostly everything needed to be redone.
Jimmy didn't include the required crawl space, he didn't install the floor joists correctly, our dryer vent from the basement was not redirected outside and was instead feeding back into the kitchen, you could see daylight through the roof, the deck was improperly framed, the ceiling support beam had to be raised. We had to rip up the flooring that was now warped due to being exposed to the outside for months, and throw out all the insulation because it was wet and moldy. We had to pay what we already paid Jimmy to finish the job that he couldn't. Thankfully in two months (when we had a real contractor and reliable workers) the job was finally completed despite having to go backwards first in order to move forward.
