A&M Home Improvement

Entered into a contract with [redacted] aka "[redacted]" to do a vinyl siding and home repair job (replacing , rebuilding porches etc.). Unbeknownst to us at the time mr [redacted] was neither licensed or registered with the state due to prior violations. Using his sons license number (they share the same name) mr [redacted] took out a permit. We paid him $14,000 to start the job with another 1/4 to be paid at the halfway point of the job and the last part to be paid upon completion for a total of $28,000. He received payment in October, 2011 then virtually disappeared until we tracked him down in January 2012. We had a few telephone correspondences with him during this period where he always provided an excuse to why he couldn't start the job. Then for a period of 3 weeks he would not respond to our calls. We tracked him down to his house where his wife told us he had left her and was living in [redacted]. We tracked him down at the address she provided. Armed with excuses and begging for a second chance he finally began work on the house 4 months after receipt of payment. We allowed him to do the work under the advisement of the Contractors Registration Board who were adamant we do everything in our power to get the job done. At the beginning he came with four or five workers,this quickly trickled down to two workers, his son, [redacted] and a helper. Soon it was just his son, [redacted] who would show up for a few hours a week. Work was extremely erratic and sporadic. Some weeks they would only be here for six or eight hours over the whole week. [redacted] was always armed with excuses. I checked the status of his insurance only to find out from his insurance company he only paid it monthly and was in arrears. I fought with him to make sure his insurance was current. He came asking for more money as he didn't have any supplies. He NEVER provided any supplies from our initial $14,000 outlay. This went on for months. [redacted] became more and more difficult to contact. He disappeared again for another three weeks and we had to track him down again. We called his son who said he refused to work because his father wasn't paying him. We called the RI Contractors Board again who again advised us to continue to do all we could in order to get the job done. We ended up in having to pay the son directly for the hours he worked each week to insure he would continue working. One week the son only worked 12 hours yet the father begged that we pay the son $1,000 for that week, in exchange for promising to have all the porch materials at our house the following Wednesday. Of course, the porch materials never appeared and when we questioned the father he became irate, and agitated saying he had never told us such a thing (although we had him sign an agreement in writing outlining the arrangement). We tried to continue having the son do work on the house, as the father at that point refused to speak to us, return our phone calls etc. The only way the son would work was we picked him up near his home in [redacted] (he had lost his license ), we purchased the materials direct from the distributor, we bought the tools he needed from [redacted] and we paid him weekly for the hours he worked. A bit more of the house got done this way, but when we refused to purchase any more supplies, since we had already paid for them with the initial $14,000 plus the agreement to pay the son even when he hadn't done the work, all communication with both father and son ceased. All together, our bank account was depleted by over $23,000. The work was not completed, the house was left in disrepair. The porches were left in unsafe condition. Garbage and debris was left all over the yard. We've had independent contractors look at the work and all have stated that the workmanship was sub-par and shoddy. Much of the work that was actually done we are told must be redone as it will allow for rotting under the siding. When we initially contacted the RI registration board they told us that [redacted], under various business names ( A & M Home improvement, [redacted]'s Construction, etc.) had numerous violations pending. We learned he had been suspended in Massachusetts and has civil proceedings pending. We filed a complaint with the RI Registration Board who offered to force [redacted] to return to our home and complete the job. They told us that they would issue a "one-time-only" license to him so he could work on our home. We refused simply because if the work that was being done while he was getting paid was sub-par what could we expect if he was working for no pay. Also, after over a year of stress, aggravation, lies, cons etc. we just absolutely want no part of this man or his business. He is a liar, a cheat and a con. He makes his living by deceit and thievery.