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• By Jonathan R.

  November 14, 2019

  $50,000

  First, I would like to say I am not a person who goes on business review websites with the sole purpose of bad mouthing them. My family has several small businesses and I know the importance of a good reputation and I would never want to jeopardize anyone’s business unless completely justified. This was a complete nightmare that my family and I went through and I do not want anyone else to experience what we did.
  In early 2017, we had a flood at our home and we met with several contractors. Jim Birdsall with Birdsall Construction & Remodeling & Plumbing was one of the contractors we interviewed. Birdsall arrived on time and was professional, knowledgeable and willing to take on the task at hand. Birdsall was subsequently hired by us in January 2017.
  Birdsall told us the work would take approximately 6 weeks to complete. After several months had passed, work was still not completed, and it seemed that out project was put on the back burner. Due to our frustrations with how long it was taking, we suggested to Birdsall that we would not pay the rest of the balance and we would manage to finish the work by other means. The majority of the work was completed, and they only needed to add small things like fixtures, soft closures for the cabinets, adjusting cabinet drawers etc. We were completely puzzled on why someone would complete 98% of the work and then just walk away without finishing. Birdsall quickly agreed to not come anymore and the balance would be taken care of. This stopped our project work around June /July 2017 (months after they said they would be finished.
  Birdsall had a written warranty on his receipts that stated all work was done in compliance with building standards / codes and that all work would have a 1-year warranty. Not only was his warranty on the receipts, it is state law under the Business & Professions Code that all contractor-related work is guaranteed for 1 year.
  Several month later, we had a major leak coming from the bathroom that Birdsall remodeled. The leak went through the ceiling and onto the first floor. Per the Business & Professions Code, there are strict guidelines to contact the contractor via email for any repair-related issues. We contacted Birdsall multiple times and never got a reply. My wife was insistent on reporting him to the licensing board from the beginning and I still told her to wait so that Birdsall could have a chance to fix his work. We never heard from him.
  We were forced to contact the CSLB (California State Licensing Board) and his bond company in an attempt to get ahold of him. Both entities told us they were having problems reaching him. We hired another contractor to repair the damage, so we could move on with our lives. Once the contractor came, we discovered the shower was never “hot mopped” (layer of tar to prevent water leaking) and there were screws going through the plastic water barrier that was incorrectly installed. The contractor told us there was no way a permit was pulled because an inspector would have caught that mistake. We checked with the city and learned Birdsall never pulled any permits for our $50,000+ project. We were completely and utterly shocked.
  We had to go through mediation and he was unresponsive to us, members of CSLB mediation department, and his bond company. Once he was contacted, we learned he had personal family emergencies. We were understanding that he was going through a hard time; however, that didn’t excuse the fact he did not pull permits for our project, never answered our emails, and was unwilling to pay to fix the damage. Birdsall wanted to come back into our home to fix the work himself (months after trying to contact him, after a complaint was made on his license, and after we already hired another contractor). There was no way we were going to allow him back into our home.
  The next step was all parties were to participate in a binding arbitration. In October of 2019 we were awarded $15,000 (maximum benefit allowed) even though the arbitrator noted our loss was almost $22,000.
  Birdsall had a 30-day window to comply with payment of the $15,000 and as of this writing the payment has not been made.
  We had to contact CSLB and his bond company again to notify them the money was never paid. They are both now taking steps to suspend his contractor’s license and we will have to recoup our money from the insurance company.
  This has been a complete nightmare for our family and I hope Birdsall’s future potential customers read this review before making a decision to go with him.

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