Randy L. Emmitt Repairs And Renovations

Complaint[redacted] L. [redacted] Repairs and Renovations installed 2 pocket doors in our house. They made huge mistakes that we now have to fix.[redacted] L. [redacted] Repairs and Renovations installed 2 pocket doors in our house. The cost was $2,200. I set-up an appointment and he came for an estimate. He seemed like a nice guy. We discussed what was needed. His price was high for the work. For example on many websites about $700 to install a pocket door (which is a little on the upper end) but considering the reviews and since [redacted] has a long history of door repair I thought his work would be excellent. I couldn't have been more wrong. We exchanged emails and since the doors had a "T" junction w/another wall I emphasized that it was important that they were installed w/heavy duty beams. Additionally, I emphasized that if the downstairs door had any support beams that they not do the job on that door. He and his worker came to the house on the day we scheduled. It turned out that [redacted] wasn't going to be around for nearly all the entire first day even though the labor involved 2 people to do the job (again in writing). First, it turns out that the downstairs door did have support (confirmed by a structural engineer) that they removed rather than stopped the job. [redacted] agreed and I have it in writing where he states, "If the one down stairs has any structural components to support the second floor, we'd be best to close it up and not do it..." It turns out that the downstairs door did indeed have structural components holding up the stairs and they knew that because I asked his worker. They did the work anyway. Second, they installed cabinet wood for the joints when we had agreed on Sept. 17 and he said (in writing) that he would replace "the wall stud tees with a steel reinforced 1 x 8 to attach to the other wall...." But when I asked him if he had done this (he told me, "no"). [redacted] told me later that instead he used wood he had just "laying around his garage." Now, we already have a hairline crack in the upstairs drywall where the drywall had a junction and we have to have a pier put in our crawlspace due to the way they installed the downstairs door due to them removing the support beams and putting the weight over a non-load bearing part of our floor. But it gets even better - they didn't do much as far as clean-up is concerned, until they left on the 3rd day. They set up their tools in the front yard, which doesn't help when you're trying to grow grass and did all their cutting there (that I had to rake out of the yard later). I had to vacuum each day after they left. After the second day we noticed that the paint on the doors and walls was dripping in places and that the drywall wasn't even smooth: A mediocre job at best. And they had cracked an upstairs bathroom tile - and of course never told me until I noticed it later. Since this has occurred I've contacted [redacted] and told him I believe he did a subpar job and owes me money. He refused to acknowledge that. I also sent him the structural engineering report (performed after [redacted] did his work) showing that their work had caused structural problems to our house and that we now need a pier. He refused to do anything other than come over and have me pay him more money to install the pier. Our home is a [redacted] home built in 2002 that had no structural problems - home inspection and engineering reports done 4 years ago showing this. So now we have major problems due to [redacted]'s shoddy work and what I've also found is that he's dishonest. Additionally, why would I want such a person to do any additional work at my house? Stay away from his person/handyman. I want him to refund me $400 and pay for the engineering report as well as the pier that we will have to have installed.Desired SettlementI want him to refund me $400 and pay for the engineering report ($180) as well as the pier that we will have to have installed (probably another $300-500). I have the engineering report and I am happy to send him the invoice for all the work we will need to have done.Business Response I did install two pocket doors for the owner, he wanted them rushed into a 3 day window. Normally I like to take 4 days for 2 doors.When we opened up the wall on the downstairs door, the wall showed no sign of being a load bearing wall. It was poorly nailed together, had no header over the existing doorway what so ever. In fact that wall was 1 inch on 8 foot out of plumb. We installed the door as we have both done many of these in the past. Everything seemed to go just fine. We finished the drywall and painted the doors, framing and new drywall wall to match. I even gave [redacted] 4 quart cans of computer matched paint (my cost $100) I made a special trip to get, this was not on my bid to buy the paint. He seemed like a nice guy and progress was going well on the doors. We finished the job, he wrote me a check.5 days later I received an E mail that he found a 4 inch hairline crack in the wall above the door. I wrote back thinking perhaps it was already there (since the walls were not directly over the door we installed) or that the house might have settled since we just had 10 inches of rain and houses do settle around here. I later mentioned it might have been a result of our hammering. I offered to come out and investigate and repair whatever was needed. I called him and he never returned my calls.His E mail reply was this: "I'd appreciate a refund of $600 for the work I'll need to have done to correct what was done as well as fix the upstairs door where the crack has started. I'm not interested in having you come to my house for any further work. Please let me know if the above is acceptable to you." I offered to take care of this problem personally. I have yet to see and he wanted me to pay him $600 for minor imperfections which would at best I can guess with out ever seeing it take an hour to correct. As with any problems I have ever had with customers projects, I return and fix them, not a problem. I'm always happy to repair anything that the customer is unhappy with.He did get and engineering report on the door that says the wall is load bearing for the stairway. We contracted to install the door, not re engineer the floor system under the doors. Again he did not want me returning to his house.He sent me the report asking for me to pay $180, the $600 (note he changed it to $400 on his complaint) and $300-500 for the pier. I replied I would do any needed repairs no cost and install him a pier at my cost of $250. This would have resulted in a 10% overage on the project, which can happen sometimes. We had pleasant interactions during the course of the job, never did he imply he was upset with our work. After my offering to do the required repairs in E mails, he filed a complaint instead. Sincerely,[redacted]