Armando's Construction Corp.

We hired [redacted] to work on our steps, pathway and a small retaining wall in the front of our house. We showed him two separate houses on an adjacent block and asked if he would be able to match our stairs specifically to the style of those houses. He said he could and we gave him a deposit. He began work exactly one month later (which was two weeks past his original start date and after numerous phone calls, most of which went unreturned).
The morning he arrived, he showed my wife a large paving stone and she agreed that the color was acceptable. He did not explain to her that these large paving stones would make up the entire construction of the steps and this went unnoticed by my wife, as the style we agreed upon featured smaller, more intricate brick. He began work by demo'ing the existing structures including, for some reason, the entire surrounding lawn and landscape area. I certainly expected grass that was in the vicinity of the steps, path and wall to be damaged/ruined. What I did not expect was for him to rip out a small shrub and damage a $275 spiral tree without letting us know ahead of time that these plants would need to be moved, as he never discussed widening the steps with us. Nor did I expect his workers to completely ruin large portions of grass across my entire front lawn by storing the pavers and work tools on the grass instead of the driveway or tossing the old railings into the middle of my lawn, driving up huge divots.
While the pathway looked very nice and the work seemed to be quality, the steps were nothing close to what we had asked for. The smooth, uniform, rounded steps that we agreed to were instead built as staggered and rough. No mortar was applied to the spacing despite the fact that the steps we agreed upon featured gray mortar between the bricks that fit the style of the homes they were attached to. To apply gray mortar to the steps he built would look itic, as the wide spaces between these particular bricks would leave everything looking disjointed.
When he arrived the second day my wife voiced our concerns to him. He said that too much of his money was already invested in the project for him to be able to redo the steps and when she asked about the damaged spiral tree his response was to tell his workers to pack up and go home. I called him from work and after a discussion, we agreed that he would clean up the mess his workers made and finish the job. We agreed for him to apply red mortar to the steps just to give it a finished look, but the steps looked nothing like what was originally discussed.
Lastly, the retaining wall is one of the shoddiest-looking, sloppy constructions that I have ever seen. Red mortar was smeared all over the faces of the brick and left there. More red mortar was smeared up the front wall of my house where it met the retaining wall. When my wife asked about this, he said he had "had enough" and went on his way. I now have to power wash and re-grout these bricks myself, or pay someone else to come in and fix [redacted]'s mess.
While I have had negative experiences with all types of services in my life, I have never been so angered to be inspired to take time out of my day to write a review online. This was the single poorest experience I have ever had working with a contractor. He failed to do the work he was paid for, he and his workers ruined a few hundred dollars in landscaping with their sloppy work habits and, perhaps most unforgivable for a "skilled" worker, most of his final product was of poor craftsmanship. I would strongly advise anyone against using this individual. Pay the extra money for a more reputable company and it will save you in the long run.

Review: A year and half ago we had cement work done at our home with Armando's construction. After one winter when the snow melted in early spring (before a year) we realized that the cement work had cracked in many places. We called Armando's Construction and Mr. A[redacted] came over and agreed that most of it had to be redone. He said that he had gotten a bad batch of cement. He said that he would be here during the summer of last year 2014 and he never showed up. Now it is another summer of 2015 and in one day recently I called them about 10 tens.. His wife Ms. C[redacted] called to tell me that a lot of people had the same problem because of the bad batch of cement and that Armando was replacing everyone and that I was also on the list. She said that she would have someone here by the 2nd week of June 2015. We are now into the 3rd week and no response from them. I'm, tired of this . I paid them in full on the spot. I want my cement fixed. I would like a refund but I don't think that is possible, so I want it fixed.Desired Settlement: Like I said I would want my money back however I am sure that that is probably not possible. So, I want my cement fixed.