I had an emergency black mold issue in a Condo on Maui. Coming from a cold climate originally, I had no knowledge of the restoration process or what it entailed. John (owner) came and inspected the condo and estimated the job to take 2 weeks totalling $9000. The invoice I was required to sign before he began any work listed labour as a bulk total of $7000, with no breakdown of hours, days, tasks, number of workers etc. John was very secretive about the entire process and did not outline a plan, such as one week for removal, one week for containment/treating. Removal took one day, and fog treatment of the contained area took a few hours. The area was then left to dry for two days (over the weekend). The entire remediation process took a total of 43 man hours, which was not disputed by John during our final discussion.
Upon completion I approached John about the 7000$ labour cost. I assumed he originally thought the mold was much worse than it was, and he would adjust the initial labour estimate. John refused to adjust the amount claiming 'that's just how much it costs' and 'you already signed it.' I reminded him he was billing at $162 per hour and originally he said it would take 2 weeks not 3 days. He assured me that was simply how the business works.
I sent John's 'breakdown-less' labour invoice to my insurance company as they were covering the damage. My insurance adjuster located on the island immediately responded advising me to ask the contractor for a breakdown of the labour cost. I sent this request to John and he responded "We do not work with insurance companies."After this interaction with the adjuster and with John I realized this is not 'simply how the business works,' but a typical case of a scam artist with elementary invoices.
After the containment was finished drying I had arranged with John for him to come and remove the containment at 3:00pm. He emailed and said he wouldn't be coming until the next day partly due to our 'payment issue'. I already had a drywaller booked for the next day, so me and my daughter removed the entire containment ourselves. John picked up his materials the next morning and there was NO discussion of refunding some money for the containment take down. At this point we just wanted him out of our house, and could care less about the $100, on top of all the other money he owed us.
I DO NOT recommend this company or the work of John, unless you would like to pay $9000 for the removal of 227 square feet of drywall. It is clear he took advantage of someone with little knowledge of the business. Our insurance adjuster who has been in the business on the island for 25 years explained the labour cost should have never been $7000 for 43 hours. When a contractor is unable to explain how he arrived at the numbers on his invoices, I advise all future costumers to run the other direction. read more
