Wallingford was the winning bid on our new home in PA. The bid was for a 5,000+ sqft concrete/brick construction home. Since most homebuilders in the northeast typically do wood-frame construction this was a unique job that we didn't trust just anyone to do. Chris was young but very knowledgeable and came in with a decent price. The job started as expected and he made good progress until about half way through when the work slowed to a trickle. Workers came sporadically: sometimes weeks would go by with only small site prep work being done.
In total the project took nearly two years to complete while the contract stipulated a total build of just 9 months. To be fair we probably added 3 months of our own delays for various reasons but the rest was on Chris. After speaking with various sub contractors, vendors, and even some of his own crew we came to learn that Chris had a tendency to stretch himself thin, moving from one project to the next and leaving them half complete. In a way he was able to 'lock-in' jobs and front-load his income.
In the end we actually hired a lawyer, threatened to sue before settling and bringing in another contractor to finish the project. We liked Chris very much, he was very personable but the complete lack of communication and how he left things left a bad taste in our mouths. Our advice to anyone receiving a bid from Chris is proceed with caution and we strongly recommend to withhold a sizeable amount for the last disbursement, that way he is incentivized to finish. He will tell you he can't prepay for the materials and work, but I say, tough. Any reputable business should be able to manage their cashflow or get a LOC from the bank to smooth things out. I am sorry this had to end with such a negative post. The house turned out beautiful. Would have loved to give Wallingford a shining recommendation. read more
