Active Remodel

*Beware* *Unprofessional* *Bait & Switch*
Chris Bush/Active Remodel LLC LIC #13VH13341100

We originally received a quote from Chris in early June (06/03/2025) and shared our North Jersey location with him (This will be relevant later). This quote included a set price for labor, and a set price for material. Chris included a detailed list of material on this quote. I took the time to research the material and realized that his price for material was over $300 more than the price the material *actually* costs.
When I brought this to his attention he dismissively said that those are his prices. I wondered why he wouldn’t just add an extra $300 to the labor price instead of trying to upcharge the material, but that's neither here nor there.
I didn’t think too much of it, and asked for a labor-only quote. This didn’t seem to be a problem, besides him saying that now he wouldn’t be able to “warranty” the work he does, even though the material is coming from the exact same distributors he was going to use. This didn’t concern us, as this is a fairly straight forward project with simple materials.
We signed the labor only quote(06/08/2025), and bought all of the material on our own, with the understanding that we would contact him when everything arrived.
Once everything arrived, we contacted him(06/26/2025), and he let us know he would be in touch the week of 07/07 as he was finishing up other jobs. No problem, we waited a week.
The following week we reached out (07/07) and he said he would get back to us later in the week. No problem. We followed up with Chris a few times(07/14 & 07/19) and once he responded we decided on the following Thursday(07/24) for the start date.
We paid the $400 deposit he requested.
Fast forward to today, Wednesday(07/23), 1 day before the project starts, we receive a text from Chris that says our location is further than he realized, and he no longer has a second worker helping him.
Because of these two factors, he goes on to tell us that if we want him to do the work (as agreed upon in the pre-existing signed contract) we will need to pay him an extra $700. I was absolutely shocked that he was trying to shake us down for more money after having a signed contract and a paid deposit. Not only is this unprofessional, it’s bad business. Chris knew our address since the beginning of June, and him being “down” a worker is not the burden of the customer. We had devoted over a month of planning with Chris and the stunt he pulled at the last minute puts us in a bind!
Please think twice before reaching out to Chris Bush & Active Remodel LLC, LIC #13VH13341100 to avoid the headache and hassle that we dealt with! *Cross posted to raise awareness*