We found Ben through Home Advisors as well. His cost was high but we needed to comply with City of Monterey report findings to close escrow on time so we hired him. The project consisted of repairing the public sidewalk that had been damaged by a tree root. We asked Ben to wait for us to start the job so we could confirm, review what we wanted done. He started the job without us and had his crew take out more of the sidewalk than was our responsibility. The other issue was safety. The City requires posting of signs to divert foot traffic and roping off the portion of sidewalk where work is being performed for pedestrian safety. Ben was not going to post signs or rope off the sidewalk area. When we arrived on site, there was a large portion of sidewalk missing with no warning sign or anything blocking access. His workers were in the backyard. Anyone walking up the hill could have fallen and gotten hurt not to mention lawsuits. Called Ben and he was not aware of City requirements nor did he have signs/equipment to rope off-site. He said it would cost us an additional $100 to rent signs; this should have been included in his $1,700 bid. We ran home and made signs, posted them on saw horses. When he arrived and saw us doing this, he got angry, told his men to leave started throwing things into his truck like a two year old. When I threatened to go to the State licensing board if he quit mid job, he eventually calmed down and finished the job (work was good). He tries to justify his higher fees by telling you he pays his men more per hour than others to retain their services. Even at $20 an hour each, we figured Ben pocketed over $1,000 on our job for little contribution to the effort. read more
