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On February 20, 2015 I contracted with Matt Dill of 21st Century Home Solutions to complete a full remodeling of my lake house in Anderson, SC. The agreement was competitively priced and dictated that I purchase the materials, and the cost of the materials was to be taken off of the total quote. I initially paid him 30% of the total job. The estimated time of completion was quoted to me as 6-8 weeks. After two weeks Matt Dill and his father began the demolition work. I was told that all of the "crews" he had were stuck on other jobs.
One of the items that was quoted was to have the popcorn ceiling scraped throughout the house. I was told that it couldn't be done, and that they would have to install 1/4 inch drywall. I told him that would be acceptable; however, he never mentioned any additional price. He hired a crew, and immediately afterwards the drywall crew began to call me complaining that they never were paid. After numerous calls from them, I finally asked them to stop calling me and deal with Matt Dill directly. It was after this that Matt called me to get paid additional money from the initial contract. I paid him an additional 30% of the contract, which he said would go towards to kitchen countertop as well as help him pay the crews that would be coming into complete the job.
Around May 1st, Matt Dill then told me that he needed to install the floors (engineered hardwoods), because his "crew" was available. It turns out that his "crew" consisted of his father and it took approximately 1 month to install the flooring in the majority of the house. When I came to inspect the work, I noticed that the floor was squishy and didn't feel right. I had given Matt Dill the manufacturers' instructions, but he told me that he knew how to install flooring. I voiced my concerns, but he told me that the flooring was installed correctly.
He then hired a contractor to come and paint the house, this was in June. As you can imagine, I'm extremely frustrated with the lack of progress. The entire time he has given me excuses as to why the job is taking so long. The painter finished the inside of the house, and almost immediately began calling me to get paid. Needless to say, I didn't want nor need to hear this.
After this, Matt Dill stopped taking my calls; consequently, I called the office and started dealing with his mother Lane Dill who is the office manager for 21st Century Home Solutions. She started making excuses for her son, and told me that he had great intentions but had fallen hard times. I believe Lane Dill had good intentions; however, she never followed thru with any of them. I met with her at the property in late June to go over the entire project again for the third time - first it was Matt, Dill, then his father John Dill, and finally the mother Lane Dill. She assured me that they everything would be taken care of and they were going to start outsourcing all the work.
The first quote they received was to complete the remodeling of all three bathrooms. The contractor wanted to be paid half up front and half upon completion. Lane Dill called me and told me that they couldn't afford to pay the contractor, and asked if I could, and she would take it off the contract price. I told her that I absolutely would not pay the contractor and that 21st Century Home Solutions was responsible for this. She then told me that she had jobs they were trying to complete, and that they would need a week to get the money together to pay the new company. The new contractor, Lane Dill, and myself met the following weekend, and she still didn't have the money. This is mid-July. At this point, I effectively fired 21st Century Home Solutions and entered into a Forbearance Agreement with them to pay me back an agreed upon amount over 10 months starting in August 2015.
After the new contractor was hired work began the following day. Come to find out, the three things that 21st Century Home Solutions actually did came out as follows:
1. Drywall of popcorn ceiling - numerous light and vent holes were covered up. We had to find all of these and cut them out properly.
2. Flooring - As suspected the flooring was installed incorrectly. The new contractor began the project by pulling up all of the flooring. Instead of a proper moisture barrier - 21st Century used the following - backer board from the tiling that wasn't properly removed, laminate flooring, carpet padding, and cardboard boxes that the flooring came in. The flororing wasn't nailed or glued down, which the instructions clearly stated were the proper way to install it.
3 Painting - We agreed in the contract to remove all wallpaper and then paint. Needless to say, none of the wallpaper was removed, and several blemishes in the walls were just painted over. We basically had to go over 50% of the walls again with paint fixing the issues.
