1st Chicago Land Builders

Hired 1st Chicagoland Builders for a porch build and attic dormer project, signed a contract on 03/08/22 and has been a nightmare ever since. The Porch project was okay, not the best quality of work but they got it done. There are a few things on that project I’ve asked them to fix but they never have. The real issue is the attic dormer. The contract we signed called for a hip and ridge dormer which are the plans we submitted to the city. He instead built a shed dormer that isn’t remotely close to the drawing (cheaper and quicker to build) the architect submitted to city and has numerous carpentry and code violations. King never informed me they were going to change the design, they just did it without asking. He then told me the architect decided to change the design due to my existing roof rafters being 2x4 and not 2x6, and we couldn’t even the designed dormer if he wanted. I then asked the architect if he was the one that made the decision or if anything he said was true, and he said no he wasn’t and that he thought King cleared it with me. Once the rough framing inspection was completed by the city on 02/02/23, they failed the work and ever since then I cannot get ahold of King. The architect came by to look at the work completed and said it was sloppy work and they didn’t even follow his plans/blueprints. I’ve been trying to get in contact with King for weeks, but he won’t respond to me. Ive had new contractors come out to give me quotes to fix the work since King won’t show up and numerous professionals have stated his work is sloppy. I ended up hiring a new company to complete the work and they got the dormer done to plan in 2 days.

I don’t even know where to start with “King”, worst experience ever. First off, this guy is a pathological liar so you can’t believe a word that comes out of his mouth. He started off strong with the lies on day 1, telling me he was the perfect guy for my project because he was an architect. He isn’t, as he had to hire an actual architect to do my project, but he keeps calling him a “structural engineer” to hide that he isn’t an architect. He also made me, as the owner, the contractor in the permit so he wouldn't be liable for anything, a really sketchy move that I never caught until the inspection. He doesn’t communicate whatsoever, it’s all one-way communication. He will call you when he needs something, but forget about calling him or texting him, he will ignore it. He constantly lies about when he will start something or be on site, he will tell you what you want to hear and then never show up (this has happened about 20-plus times). One day he said he couldn’t come on a Friday because he was out buying siding for my project, then on Monday I get a panicked call that I need to go buy siding for my project ASAP because he never got it and was out of town and his guys where there to work. He will never be onsite so he has no idea what is going on with your project, he just sends his guys. He will call you to tell you to go tell his guys something because he is too lazy to show up himself, the quality of work is very poor due to this. They cant even do the basics right like reading blue prints and framing. His guys also hate him, I was helping them one day and they spilled their guts about him. How lazy he is and that he never finishes projects, gets 80% of the customers money then runs away, which is currently happening to me. They also let me know “King” lies about his name, it’s Jiovanni Martinez. Turns out he had another construction company in the past (1 Vision Construction Company) that went under due to these same issues, so he started a new one under a new name. So the guy is a just a fraud and a hack. Lawsuit starting this week.