BUYER BEWARE
I called Joel to do work at my property, and asked him for information relating to rate, schedule, etc. I also emailed him a small punchlist of repairs. Most important, because of the forecast for rain, was to replace some shingles on my rental property.
Joel agreed to the work, and said he would come to my property and put two men to work at a rate of $70.00/hour. He said he was busy, but scheduled me out about 10 days. He promised to be at my property on that Tuesday morning between 8:30 and 9:00 AM.
Tuesday morning I got up, secured the dogs and the livestock, and waited for Joel. After a couple hours waiting, I called to find out if he's coming. Joel said his alternator went out, but he would let me know. I waited all day, and nothing.
Next morning at 8:10 he called, said he is on his way. I secured the animals again, and waited. He showed up at 10:30 with two men. I told him I was leaving out of town in the morning, be gone for a week, and don't start anything he can't finish today. Heavy rains were coming, and I don't want materials sitting out in the elements. Joel left to buy materials, took one worker with him? and left one worker on-site. Joel and the second worker came back - three hours later - dropped off about $400.00 worth of materials and left for the day. He said that it was too hot to replace the shingles, but he would replace them in the morning - never happened.
Then, at 3:30, after 5 hours of work, the ONE worker packs up his tools, and hands me a bill for $1400.00 ($726.00 materials). I thought that was nuts - let's see the materials receipt. Materials were marked up by over $100.00, and he charged a $75.00 service charge on top of that. He charged me 7 hours of labor despite only 5 hours of work. He charged $50.00/hr for one man, instead of $70.00/hr for two.
Instead of giving his man (nice guy, good worker) the $35.00/hr split, I gave him a check for 5 hours @ $50.00/hr for $250.00. I told his man to please take the materials with him. Since we were leaving at 4:30AM the next morning, I told him we would work out the (significant) differences upon our return. Our main concern (replace the shingles) was never completed and was rained on, the jobsite is half demo'd now, and the demo'd materials remain on our property.
While we were gone, we got a call from a process server. Yes, Joel is suing us.