Will not return calls to address warranty issues. The project was less than 1 year old when issues began.
Jacob had poured concrete for porch and a support gave way. Instead of removing the concrete and straightening it, he let it set and then covered it up, which I took as an attempt to hide the faulty work. The side was, of course, slanted.
In his way of 'fixing' things he suggested that we install stone, which he pushed for with us before contract was signed and which we told him we did not want. Now we had to in order to obtain some semblance of proper work. He said that it wouldn't cost us anything BUT when work was done he said we had to pay for the stone.
In order to install the stone he had to 'chisel ' away at the side in an attempt to straighten it (it didn't entirely) and the entire top in order to flatten it. This was his way of trying to make things right. However, the stone was not aligned in some areas, did not fit in others, and was not sealed well at junctures.
He also tried to get away with making the landing area smaller than what was there and which I told him I wanted to retain. His and his worker's response was, "We made it legal size." Speaking of legal, I asked him if we needed a permit and he told me NO. It turned out we did. This meant we had to wait for the process to evolve in order to obtain the permit (architectural drawings, $$$, inspections, etc.), which took us into the spring because by the time all that was done it was too late to do the work (and he told us he went south for the winter and wouldn't be back until late spring.) We had to enter our house through the garage during this time and because of the way our house it set up it was difficult to bring in and take out things such as strollers.
On top of this, when he returned in the early spring he bragged about finishing off a project earlier in the spring (when he told us he's be down south) by enclosing it in and heating it to finish it. After I asked him why he didn't do that for us, especially considering the horrendous issues we had with his workmanship, he agreed to do so for us. HOWEVER, his heater blew diesel, then gas, fumes into our house so much that I ended up with headaches and the children were exposed to it. He didn't seem to believe that these fumes are carcinogenic.
The driveway and porch are cracking. Water from what can only be coming from weeping tiles that he installed to take water from the drain in front of the garage to the rear of the garage is causing water to seep under the garage floor making the garage floor very wet and the garage gets smelly. Jacob came and did 'repairs' to the drainage to address the water seeping under garage (removing the weeping tiles and putting in a solid pipe but it is still happening so one has to wonder if he did install a solid pipe. I think not, at least not all the way back. (He originally just installed a pipe to drain from the expensive drain he made at front of garage without pouring concrete over it until I hounded him to do what he promised, which was to install a drain pipe alongside the garage to the back of it and cover it with concrete. He only put gravel over it until my hounding.
The grill he put over the drain at the front of the garage did not 'fit' in the concrete so he patched it up but the patches have crumbled and washed away. This also causes rainwater to drain into the garage at one corner instead of going down the drain.
I had also asked him, when he did the digging at the beginning to check and see if there was a problem with the foundation at that area incase we needed to waterproof the wall of the house. (He told me he was going to dig down the number of feet that would make this possible. He didn't.
He was also suppose to rebuild the 'curb' at the entrance to the garage but he only covered it with concrete.
I have made countless calls for him to come and address his 'Warranty', which is useless because neither he, nor "Jenn," will return calls.
His bragging about having done numerous government contracts worries me about entering any gov't facility that he may have worked on.
Upon my return home one day I discovered that he had dumped stone, gravel, soil debris in my neighbour’s garden and lawn. I had to haul 10 or more wheelbarrow loads away. When I confronted him about it, he seen unperturbed about it.
He had also taken loads of brick from the area that had been there before to the back of my garage and stacked them up there.
During the work we often spoke and he talked as if he was a 'man of God' and how strong his faith was. He told me of his position in the army that fought for his country in the middle east (I won't mention the country out of fear that some may target his 'faith'.) Obviously this was untrue because no 'man of God' would have put us through such misery nor would such a person refuse to address the Warranty issues.
The contract stated that the final payment from us would be made after all the work was complete. Yet he hounded me to pay up before all the work was completed. Although I held my ground on this issue, I should have held back the last minimal amount, if not for all the aggravation and disruption, then for the resulting warranty issues.
As it stands I'll now have to face more aggravation and disruption by taking him and the company to court in order to obtain a judgement against him for the damages his unprofessional workmanship has caused.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $23,000.00