Woodstone Contracting, Inc.

Review: We hired Woodstone Contracting Inc. ([redacted]) in the autumn of 2011 to do a job that included some structural repairs on our house, the addition of a small foyer at the front door, and the replacement of a bluestone walkway. The job started off OK but very soon Anthony’s performance deteriorated sharply. He is not to be recommended, for reasons that include the following: The job [redacted] did was not in accordance with the specifications of the job. He changed the job specs without telling us (never mind ASKING us) about the change, including using materials and methods that saved him time and money. The quality of work was mediocre at best. Details were left unfinished. (I would say that [redacted] is particularly weak on interior work.) And about a year later, parts of what he did were coming apart. [redacted] was very disorganized. He lost paperwork. He seemed to have problems properly organizing crew and materials. He had great difficulty navigating the building-permit process, and he blamed it all on the building inspector. [redacted] was a very poor communicator. He did not keep us informed about the job, he did not return phone calls or answer emails in a timely fashion (in some cases weeks would pass before he responded; sometimes he just didn’t respond at all), and he did not communicate well with his crew (the workers came to us to get instructions on what they were supposed to do). [redacted] was often late for appointments (more than an hour in some cases) and once did not show up at all. Anthony’s crew did not clean up regularly. Worst of all, just before Christmas 2011 I asked [redacted] to make sure that the debris was cleared off the front walk and front porch so there wasn’t construction rubbish in front of our front door on Christmas. In fact, there was a high pile of stuff right beside our door throughout the Christmas holiday. [redacted] told us the job would be finished in “one good, long week.” After four days of work, the crew disappeared. They reappeared several weeks later and worked for five partial days around Christmas and then disappeared again, this time for almost eight months! The work was finally finished in late August 2012, but [redacted] didn’t complete the paper work and deliver the Certificate of Occupancy to us until March 2013. So, in all, the “one good, long week” was in fact some 65 weeks. And at every step of the process, we had to chase [redacted] to get him to finish the job. [redacted] gave us a fixed-price contract. At the end of the job he charged more than the contracted amount and then demanded even more! We overpaid by $1,334.Desired Settlement: We were overbilled by $1,334. We want a refund of that amount. Certain other job-quality issues need to be addressed.

Business

Response:

I am responding to a complaint from [redacted] 2 years ago I was contracted by [redacted] to install a enclosed unheated vestibule directly on stone patio and repairs to rotted beams on main structure of home .He states that we were there at Christmas which is untrue since contract is dated for 12/*/2011 and we would have started after then .as it was winter we did repairs to struct ure that was needed to stop house from continued damage .then we had to wait till spring to continue since painting exterior in freezing weather is not recommended and when spring came we had very rain season which prolonged finishing exterior . . The plans called for sheet rock which I didn't feel would be right for this application ,so I installed azak panels instead at 110 dollars a sheet 1 x the cost of sheet rock and at my expense .Anybody in the trade will know that this is the product of choice today is the right thing to do . [redacted] being an elderly man probably isn't familiar with modern materials, so I tried to explain to him but he is insisting that I cheated him by using inferior product . Now after 2 years it still looks like new !

His second concern is with price of door ,when we did contract he didn't know what door he was using so I put door to be determined . After he selected door ,I purchased door and gave him bill and receipt from supplier for 1400$ . Which he doesn't want to pay I have since then written it off per my lawyer suggestion since it would cost more in legal fees than what I would collect.

This has been a dead issue for over a year and I don't know why he is bringing it up now and a year ago when I was getting

close for job he told me that when he received c/o he would settle up final bill after he received c/o is when he came up with all this .

[redacted] had also filed complaint with service magic and after there review dismissed complaint so now he has moved on to you . Please let me know if there is anything else that you need to clear this up . As you can see I have never had a complaint before and I work very hard to keep it that way but I guess there are some things you have no control over .

Woodstone Builders Inc.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because

[redacted] / Woodstone Contracting has not been truthful/accurate in his attempt to refute my points

1) Timetable.

He maintains that my complaint about Christmas day is “untrue since the contract is dated for 12/**/2011 and we would have started after then.” THIS IS FACTUALLY INCORRECT.

I was in conversations with him during September and October of 2011.

He began work on November [redacted], 2011, and one or men performed work for part or all of the following days:

Monday, November **, 2011

Tuesday, November **, 2011

Wednesday, November **, 2011

Thursday, December **, 2011

Thursday, December **, 2011

Friday, December **, 2011

Tuesday, December **, 2011

Wednesday, December **, 2011

Thursday, December **, 2011

Tuesday, August **, 2012

Wednesday, August **, 2013

I have records showing how many men showed up for how many hours on each day.

I also have a cancelled check showing that, on 12/*/2011, he cashed my check dated 11/**/2011. This coincided with the beginning of the job.

As I stated earlier, on Friday before Christmas, a large pile of construction debris was left right by our front door, notwithstanding the fact that I specifically asked that everything be cleaned up for the Christmas weekend.

2) Job Specs

The specs called for the foyer to be framed, sheathed, insulated, and sheetrocked on the interior.

By his own admission in his email to you, he changed the job specs because “I didn’t feel it would be right for this application.” He never asked or even told us about this. He argues that he used superior materials, and made the pitiful and snarky comment that I am an “elderly man” who’s not familiar with modern materials (not factually true on either count!). But the point is he quoted a fixed price for a job with certain specs. He did not deliver that job.

3) Cost

He writes that I was concerned about the “price of the door.” Not true. I am concerned with the fact that he agreed to a fixed price for the job, then took more than the agreed amount, and then asked for even more. Apparently he decided, after the fact, that he wanted to have his cake and eat it too: charge the amount of the fixed-price contract AND have me pay for materials (not just the door, in fact).

4) Timing of Complaint

He wrote that this has been “a dead issue for over a year.” Again, not factually correct. He didn’t deliver the certificate of occupancy until March 2013. So the job wasn’t officially completed until a few months ago. In the interim, I tried to resolve the problems I had with him and he just stonewalled me, wrote snarky emails, etc.

5) Other complaints

He stated that I “had also filed complaint with service magic and after there review dismissed complaint so now he has moved on to you” (sic!). He is factually inaccurate on all counts. I have yet to complain to Service Master, although that is on my list. I did file a complaint with [redacted] at the same time I filed with Revdex.com. That complaint was not dismissed and is ongoing. In fact, they spoke with me this morning to ask me to send them some docs.

[redacted] continues in his established path: he is either incompetent or dishonest… or maybe both. I offered him the “out” of returning to us the amount by which he overcharged us ($1,334); he has declined that offer. So now, in addition to consumer complaints to Revdex.com and others, he will be dealing with the Attorney General and the courts (as I intend to sue him for the entire $21K+ amount that he collected from us so we have the money to re-do the job as per the original specs).

Sincerely,