We signed a contract for a five week long job that was to start June 1st and complete 5 weeks later in July. Jon's design was beautiful and that's really why we went with him. He is very much a visionary with his eye for landscaping. We made two changes during construction which we agreed would add an extra two weeks of labour for a total of 14 weeks. We had workers here until 2 weeks after Labour Day. His workers didn't show up until 11am, took an hour or more for lunch at 1pm and always left the job before 6 pm. Often, when here, they couldn't move ahead with the next step because Jon - who had promised to be there early - didn't bring the required materials. Over the two weeks that we went away for summer vacation, there were many days that no one came to work at all (we had someone watching the place), he allowed the pool to become so dirty and green that it stank of pond scum and was lined with it too. Because he didn't visit the site for over two weeks, he didn't see that the concrete pad beside the cabana for the pool equipment had been poured incorrectly and none of the equipment could be reconnected. The cabana itself was roofed incorrectly so that the pot lights ordered wouldn't fit. The whole roof had to be ripped off and started again with the proper overhang. Meanwhile they cut the windows so low and so small it looked like a dolls house. Those had to widened and reframed.
Some days one of three workers would come to the site, for two weeks we had one by himself. In the last month I had to pay out wages to three of his staff and dock it from the outstanding amount; he hadn't paid his guys in 5 weeks.
He stopped coming to the site at all, avoided our phone calls and in the end disappeared - but not before being paid.
He was all talk, a huge pain and a vast disappointment. His crew spoke badly of him (carved in the concrete "Jon is an a**hole"), he never kept his word and his only saving grace was a fabulous design. If you're going to use him, pay for the design and then pick another contractor to do the work.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $120,000.00