Black Dog Construction

Erik/CEC sued me and won $30k additional judgement after poorly bidding a $25k fixed price project on my own home. I'll keep my comments to the facts, and avoid hyperbole as I don't want to cause additional legal concern for myself. One fact is that my opinion of Erik, the owner of CEC, is not high. I personally did not find him to be professional in communication, subcontractor or issue management. In general, his subcontractors performed the scope of work. Erik himself did not provide important document deliverables that were part of the bid. The quality of work was never more than average. No warranty on the work was provided. In one case, he had sub-sub-contractors working in the house their family members in attendance. To keep the project on schedule, I had to go to Home Depot and pick up materials for them. I was later contacted by these family members with threats to sue me because they were having a payment dispute with Erik and his sub. In another case, Erik disagreed with me that a bathtub frame could be built at 90-degree angles to the wall (it was cadywonk by 2-4 inches at the corner). He began yelling at me and took a hammer in anger, damaging the frame. This was later repaired by his crew. Erik was not frequently on-site, leaving his crew often wondering what to do. Fortunately I was working from a separate finished shed that I use as an office, so they would come ask me several times a day about the plans and what to do next. I would expect more professional crew management in future projects. I can't recommend CEC for residential home work. Interacting with Erik was largely stressful. Being sued felt like he was trying to make up for his own bad estimating, and added another 18 months of stress. His sub-contractors were in some cases very questionable. The quality of work was only below average to average.