Empire Home Improvement

I met with Rocky, the owner of Empire Home Improvement, in February of 2019 to go over an in depth scope of work that I put together for a multi-family that I own. I informed Rocky that I would be subbing out half of the work to separate highly reviewed contractors that I had previously interviewed and received quotes from, at first Rocky seemed receptive to this, but shortly before finalizing the contract he said that I must use his plumber or he would not take on any of the work he had previously quoted. At this time I was in a hurry to get started and so I agreed and signed a $104,000 contract with him. The project started out great with clear communication and fast paced workers but shortly went downhill. It started with some minor miscommunications costing me thousands of dollars and time, I let this go and moved forward in hopes to keep the project on track. There were numerous times where miscommunications happened throughout the project and Rocky took his frustrations to another level by yelling and swearing at me on the phone, through text and even in front of his workers and my family members. Three months into the project Rocky refused to have his plumber complete the work that was outlined in the contract, stating that he missed this portion of the plumbing work in his estimate even though the contract stated he would complete it. Shortly thereafter Rocky's plumber brought in and installed a used boiler and expansion tank even though the contract specifically called for a brand new boiler and expansion tank. This alone was a $9,000 job which I believe they tried to save on costs of a new boiler and expansion tank. I shortly realized thereafter that this was used equipment. The installed boiler was rusted and corroded. When I brought this up to Rocky he made an excuse for his plumber and informed me that it was only shortly installed in another customers house. I insisted that the used boiler be removed from my home and a new boiler be bought and installed immediately. It took almost a month for them to install the new boiler. The used unit was never removed after asking multiple times, I later had to pay someone for removal. Another incident took place shortly after where I found a major leak within the walls which was leaking down from the second floor apartment, through the first floor ceiling and walls and to the basement. I immediately called Rocky since his plumber had recently completed all of the plumbing in the walls. At this point in time I no longer trusted him or anyone on his team and insisted that a family member of mine be present to video record when the walls were opened by his contractors to find the problem. My whole kitchen was torn apart; wall, trim, light fixtures, cabinets and counter tops. During the video recording and after the plumber stated that it could have been his mistake but Rocky called me while I was at work accusing me of causing the damage to the pipe which was located inside of the wall. Not possible. Numerous other problems came up with poor quality of work done by his workers and his subcontractors that cost additional thousands of dollars to correct. Rocky also refused to complete a number of items written in the contract. At this point I tried to explained my concerns which only lead to him swearing at me, threatening to call the city to shut down my project and suing me. I had no choice but to terminate Rocky as I could not continue to deal with the utter disrespect and because I could no longer trust him or any of his contractors. On this project alone I oversaw 10 other subcontractors with contracts valued over $120,000, who I thankfully had no problems with. All other contractors were paid in full at the completion of their scope of work. After Rocky was terminated from the job he called the city as well as multiple of my subcontractors, I believe he was trying to sabotage my project from being completed. I was also notified by multiple people to be careful of him. Other reputable tradesmen noted the poor quality of the systems installed in my house by Rock and his team.