Capitol Construction

We hired Ray Hansen and Capitol Construction early in 2015 to do a large exterior remodel (sewer line, siding, windows, driveway, porch, and more). They began work toward the end of May. From the get go there were red flags, but like with anything they made sense at the time. First, Ray would ask me if he could do work that he wasn’t licensed for. He’d say things like, “can I remove the electrical in your attic or do you want to have an electrician do it?” These questions came up a lot. From there, the classic contractor nightmare story began. Work was delayed, he tried to raise prices on our quote, etc. By the end of August the work still wasn’t done. One day while I was out of town and my wife was at work Ray came to the house, packed up all his tools, and tried to disappear. He wasn’t quick enough though and my wife showed up just as he was about to leave. He yelled at her, saying that we were difficult, saying that he underbid the job, and saying that he had clients to help where he could make more money. Reading this you would think “no one would say something like this…” but he did. He left our carport and porch roof supported by temporary posts (2X4’s), our driveway and front porch missing (totally gone), siding missing, and large holes in our yard. He then disappeared. He would not respond to emails, calls, or texts. Finally I was able to track him down at a different job site, worked things out and he agreed to finish the job. He came back and completed much of the work (about 70% - 80%) but at the end of October he pulled the same disappearing act. He showed up one day, cussed at us, packed up his tools and left. He left us with no front porch, defective paint, oversprayed paint on our concrete and windows and a myriad of other problems. We attempted to reach out to Ray for another 2 weeks but he refused to respond. We’ve now hired other contractors to clean up his mess but we’re still dealing with the aftermath and probably still have months of work ahead of us. Afterwards we did some additional digging and found that Ray wasn’t a licensed contractor for about 1/3 of our job (he was licensed in WA but not ID) and did not have an endorsement to do electrical or plumbing work – things that he did. The sad thing about Ray and Capitol Construction is that some of his workers are fantastic. For instance, Ronnie was a quality craftsman who tried to do things right. Alex did a great job too. Unfortunately time and time again I’d watch Ray hamstring their work or ask them to cut corners in order to save money. I wish Alex and Ronnie would start their own company because I’d hire them in a heartbeat. Please, please, please watch out for Ray Hansen. He may even be someone who changes the name of his company – so be careful. Looking at Spokane County and City records he hasn’t finaled many of the permits that he’s started so I have a suspicion he’s pulled this on other clients as well. He also has a fine from last year for doing plumbing work without an endorsement. Obviously in retrospect we feel very stupid for hiring him but Ray is very personable and knowledgeable about construction so it’s easy to buy into what he’s selling. Please don’t.