Colorado Deck and Patio

UPDATE: Since it has been several months, I thought I should post an update regarding our dealings with Colorado Deck and Patio. But first, have you noticed that Colorado Deck & Patio, which has been in business for ten years and had very few reviews posted anywhere before 2018, now has somewhere between 12 and 20 positive, or actually perfect, reviews all posted just in the last five months? Literally, before we first posted a review in January there were just one or two negative ones, and maybe two or three positive ones over several years’ time. Now in the time since we posted our completely factual, one-star review detailing our experience with them, there is a new 5-star review almost every week posted somewhere. This is particularly interesting since they claimed when we were in negotiations with them, that they only take on one project at a time in order to focus on the details of your job. That might have been enough to fully recover their overall decent ratings if it weren't for the fact that during that time there have also been a few new one-star ratings. Apparently the terrible job they did for us, is not so uncommon for them after all.
Anyway, after we paid Colorado Deck and Patio over $13K for a front porch and then learned that they had no license to work in the city of Aurora, obtained no permits or inspections, disregarded the engineer's plans for our porch and violated city codes, we were left with a structure that may have looked good, but was completely uninsurable. That is no minor issue as any homeowner will attest. We then had to spend the next three months and another $15 thousand dollars to have things done correctly and legally. You would think it would cost less the second time, but we had the added expenses of paying for things like the proper permits, enough roofing material to do the entire front side of the house as required by city codes, and special equipment to allow workers to safely remove and rebuild portions of the structure Colorado Deck and Patio provided that was not remotely structurally sound. And of course there were also the additional costs of hiring a lawyer.
In many of the responses that Stephen Jackson and/or Eric Johnson posted online to my reviews they stated that we refused to give them a chance to "fix" the work. While this was not entirely untrue (A) we initially did ask them to provide us with information to help us resolve the situation and they never responded; (B) Stephen had become hostile and belligerent with us and we were legitimately concerned his behavior might escalate; and (C) this was not a mistake or an oversight that they sincerely wanted to correct. They blatantly disregarded us and our home and our safety and intentionally committed fraud. Why would we give them a chance to further damage our home? (Plus the lawyer advised against it.)
Of course Stephen Jackson claimed that it was not him but rather the subcontractor who was responsible for all of the issues, and further implied he hired that subcontractor because he was a friend of ours. (A) The subcontractor that Stephen hired despite the fact they told us they don't use subcontractors, did what he was told to do - like we all do when we go to work. (B) We had never met that subcontractor before the day he started work on our home and Stephen introduced us. (If he was our friend, why wouldn't we have just contracted with him directly?) We did become friends later when we learned that he too had been ripped-off by Colorado Deck and Patio, after completing a subsequent job for them and not being paid a dime for five weeks of work. (C) We have photos of Stephen, who was onsite almost every day, pointing at the beams for the porch as he instructed them to simply notch them and attach them to the frame of the house. This disregarded the engineer’s plans that called for support posts to be built on the front of the house. Stephen was never out of the loop, he is very much the type that is always calling the shots, just ask him!
So in the end we do have a very expensive front porch which is fully permitted, structurally sound, and insured, and fortunately it looks great. But at this point we can't even begin to enjoy it or even appreciate it, which is really sad because we saved for that porch for years. But at this point it's just a reminder of a very painful, expensive, unpleasant experience.
Also in the end, the fact that there are new negative, one-star reviews for Colorado Deck and Patio describing recent terrible service, unprofessionalism, and even one that states Stephen "got in [my wife's] face" tells us that they haven't improved, accepted responsibility, or learned anything. But why would they.. it's clear from their responses that Stephen believes he is the victim here. Please do not hire them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Original Review:
Colorado Deck & Patio did not pull permits for the work they did on our house, even though it was explicitly stated in their signed contract that they would. Without permits there was no inspection either. This means the $13000 patio on my house is not insured, and cannot be insured.
Of course they couldn't have pulled permits because it turns out they are not licensed in the city of Aurora. A fact they obviously know even though Aurora is the first city listed on their website under "Cities Serviced".
They did obtain engineer's structural plans that were stamped. But then they failed to follow them. They also failed to follow the requirements of the city's codes regarding the roof. They cut corners instead to reduce their costs, not mine.
We have now applied for the permit ourselves. Next we have to request an inspection that we know we will fail so that we can then have everything that Colorado Deck & Patio did wrong - fixed, at our expense. After that... perhaps an attorney?
[If you're wondering why they have other reviews that are great.. They offer gift cards for 5-star reviews. ]