Rick Trudeau, Custom Sawmill and General Construction
I contracted Rick Trudeau, Wells, Texas (associated with Trudeau Tree Service and Custom Sawmill, R&R Mercantile, and Church of Wells) to install a shower and finish out two bathrooms which had been roughed in by the Metal Building contractor, who constructed the building. I made my decision to hire Trudeau based upon meeting him and his foreman at our site and discussing the project. They appeared knowledgeable, experienced and were prepared to begin the work immediately. Their estimate was within our budget, and they could meet our required timeline.
Although I was on the property when they began, I was not able to stay longer to check up on their work as they continued. My son returned to check it out after they notified us they were finished. He reported that it was a very sloppy job, and described to me all that he could see that was wrong. I contacted Rick to inform him that there were serious issues with the work that was done, and I was in no way satisfied. He admitted that there were problems and offered to discount the final price or, if I preferred, demo the work they had done and redo it at their cost. I was hesitant, but finally agreed to let them demo and start over. However, I had them delay until I could see the original work for myself.
Upon reviewing it in person, I was so upset with how poorly it was done, I tried to contact Rick, but without success. His foreman returned my call and I informed him that I had no confidence in them, and that I was cancelling their rework. I provided detailed feedback on all the problems that I saw with the job, which caused me to decide to drop them. I also informed them that I would not be paying the remaining balance, since it was going to cost me more than that to contract another company to redo their work.
I also wrote Rick an email to put in writing all the areas that were at fault. These included:
1. None of my directions were followed regarding the tiling of the shower area (even though I provided them in writing)
2. Not only was the wrong tile used for the walls and the shower floor, the actual preparation of the shower floor was not leveled; the sloping was not properly set to allow the water to drain
3. The drain itself was raised higher than the tile, making it impossible to drain completely; the cut-out made for the drain was sloppy, and should have been circle-cut to match the drain, rather than pieced together with a tile saw
4. The tiles were poorly set leaving some of them with the pointed edges sticking up above the surface level, creating a hazard
5. The grout was not cleaned properly from the tile, leaving residue to dry and haze the surface of the walls, the floor and shower floor that will be difficult to remove
6. It looks like 3 different colors of grout were used between the 2 rooms, which I can see no clear reason for
7. There were also several water leaks in the joints of the PVC that I could see. It appeared that there might be others hidden as I saw water stains on at least one of the wooden floor plates that were behind the shower. I had to place containers under the visible leaks in order to make use of the bathrooms.
8. The backfilling of the piping and conduit trenches in the yard was not sufficiently packed. The rain exposed all the runs, almost completely washing the loose soil away.
9. The drain of the temporary sink plumbed in the kitchen leaked and I had to put a container under it to use it.
10. There was a large stain on the kitchen floor caused by a spill of what looks like PVC hardener. It appeared that no care was made to attempt to clean it up. This was on my list of things I wanted done, which was not followed by the crew. I shouldn't have had to say anything about it in the first place.
I could go on, but suffice it to say, I consider Trudeau's work to be not only substandard, but actually, no better than an amateur would have done. In fact, I believe an amateur would have done a better job, because he would have taken care to do a good job. I was very surprised with the outcome after having met with them and had them represent themselves as completely experienced and guaranteeing us complete satisfaction.
What I was most upset with regarding my experience with them, is that when I called to report my concerns - AFTER they said the job was complete and they wanted the balance paid, they acknowledged that they knew there were some problems. They even knew that the shower floor was unlevel and that the shower would not drain - before I informed them of it!
I caution anyone looking into using Trudeau for general contracting or any of their associated services. They misrepresented themselves to me, their work was unacceptable, and they came clean only after I forced the issue with them. read more
