General Contractor - Hudson, MA
1.0
cj w.
MEDIOCRE. DISHONEST. IRRESPONSIBLE. PETTY. I'd give negative stars if I could. FIRST, a sampling of the mediocrity. He installed fillers for our kitchen cabinets and instead of using glue or silicone for the seams, he used finish nails right on the face plates. Black and silver nails on white kitchen cabinets. and the finish nails weren't even neatly inserted. Bathroom tilework, he left mortar and grout on the ceiling and never removed. scratched up our new tub despite us putting down thick plastic and cardboard. Same treatment with our new flooring. Left us with a leak in our heating plumbing for the entire winter. Left ugly orange insulation showing like tumors around the windows and toilet supply valve. Finished bathroom walls that clearly showed lumps after painting. One worker took six hours to install one over-the-wall medicine cabinet when reviewers for the medicine cabinet online indicate 'easy installation'. Yes, all the work named were started and touched by him, ie, he didn't 'come after' anyone else. SECOND, the dishonesty. He overbilled for the time he and his workers spent. If a worker showed up at 9:20am, he considered that the worker showed up at 9am. If they left at 3:50pm, he clocked out at 4pm. These adds up. We also consistently paid for multiple worker's lunchtimes that last up to an hour -- as in, we're paying for his workers to decide where they want to go, drive there, fiddle around with the menu, wait for the takeout, drive back, and eat. We got fed up enough that we offered to pick up and deliver for them just to save them time and us money. In part to keep the work going and in part because we couldn't find anyone to take up what he started (or messed up on), we turned a blind eye. THIRD, the irresponsibility. Doesn't show up when he said he would, and he often had last minute excuses (as if our done schedule revolves around him). It took him months, yes, months, to come back only for 1-2 days at a time, and 1-2 relatively unskilled guys at a time (did I mention his worker took six hours to install an on-the-wall medicine cabinet? and sometimes a guy doesn't even show owing to "car issues"). Or he doesn't show up like he said he would -- for instance, on 'rain days'. His plumber worker flat out told us to find someone else. When we complained about the length of time it took him to come back, he tells us that he's only doing work 'trying to help us out'. Yeah. As if we're a charity case who should be grateful that he deigns to give us attention. We finally got tired of the runaround, and eventually found other people to finish and/or fix his mediocrity. He likes to say that we hired him to do 3-4 days' of work when I handed him a 3-4 page spreadsheet of work on our first day. He attempts to blame us for poor planning when there's a written trail of what work remains. The poor planner was him. He also likes to say that the workplace was cluttered. We had bought our materials and they in no way impeded his work product. after all, he and his workers liberally moved the construction materials at the expense of scratching our floors. LASTLY, the pettiness. He showed up suddenly last weekend and demands payment. Didn't even offer to finish the work he started or messed up on. We have learned to not expect a courteous apology for putting us off because I guess "charity cases" deserve no respect. So we ask for timekeeping. He at first refused. We insisted. And when he finally issued his timekeeping, we disagreed with it. There was a habit of charging for lunch times and rounding up/down on arrival and departure times that we were no longer willing to overlook. He also charged us for materials we already had provided so if he used his own it was 1) without our informed consent, which means 2) he's out of line in demanding reimbursement. Mike attempted to marginalize his dishonesty by saying we're complaining over overbilling 'from like 9 months ago.' Actually, he was overbilling throughout. We just decided to put our foot down at this final stop and he doesn't like that we're no longer low hanging fruits for him. We said to give us reasonable time to review the invoice. He said we were "supposed" to pay him the last time he came, and we ignored his phone call. We said, "you didn't show up like you wrote you would. We made it clear we had a tight schedule, we left when we said we would, we do not apologize for not waiting around for you to show up to get paid. By the time you called we were well en route to another state. And, you didn't send us a formal invoice until now." He immediately threatened blackmail. When I reminded him that blackmail is a crime he then threatened court. It has not been four days since he sent us the invoice and everyday this week he's been hounding for payment or threatening to take us to court. Um, Ok. you were content to leave us holding the bag for months on end, you show up demanding payment without even offering to finish or correct your mediocre work, and when we don't immediately roll over like a doormat, you blackmail or threaten court? He says we're in the 'court process' now. Consider that we didn't get the formal invoice until four days ago. Like I said. Mediocre. Dishonest Irresponsible. Petty. And this is just a 'sampling' of what we had to deal with. Engage with Mike Rego at your own risk of being treated like a 'charity case' who owes him your schedule, dignity and money.
Address
PO Box 423
Hudson, MA 01749