Expert Contractors

This company is a group of scam artists committing illegal work! STAY CLEAR!
We hired Luis and the Expert Contractors in August of 2019 and were told it would take 90 days to complete a roughly 1000 sqft commercial ice cream parlor. As of June of 2020, we were forced to terminate Expert Contractors to correct the work done by Luis and Team and complete the project.
Luis claims to be have been in business for 30 years. His father may have started the business 30 years ago, but Luis DeSouza Jr has maybe less than 5 years’ experience. Luis made multiple claims that his father had passed away a few years back and left Luis the business. Luis DeSouza Jr is also not a licensed contractor and is falsely using a license belonging to Alyson Hoepers (CS-1125070), whom we never met.
At the beginning of the project, we signed a contract and paid a 40% deposit via check. It was my first red flag when I then got a call from my bank that someone was at the branch trying to CASH (not deposit) a $62,000 check.
After just 2 weeks, it was apparent that Luis would not make the deadline set. He continuously urged us not to worry and that we were still on track. His crew would come to work for 2 days, and then not be seen again for 2 weeks. We would then call Luis who insisted things were moving along and that he was just waiting on materials.
Luis and his business partner/foreman, Michael Dos Santos, were very rarely on site, leaving their workers and subcontractors to do the work. This wouldn’t have been a problem had they been more skilled; however there were tremendous communication barriers which prohibited following the blueprints. Without Luis and Michael there to translate, we were left to rely on Google Translate to communicate with the individuals working on our project.
Luis would also leave for weeks on end, taking vacations around the world all while our project remained in pieces with nobody to work on it while he was gone. In a matter of a three months he took 2 trips to Brazil, 1 trip to Vegas, 1 trip to New York, and another trip to San Diego. And that is just what I remember off the top of my head. What someone does in their personal life in most circumstances would not effect a business review, but Luis’s personal life hindered his ability to complete our project.
The Expert Contractors would often request to meet with me on site to review plans, and then blow me off while I sat on site for the entire day waiting on them. Often times I would then receive a condescending message when I would ask why they didn’t show up to an agreed upon meeting time.
After numerous empty promises and extended deadlines, we terminated our agreement with Luis and The Expert Contractors in November of 2019. We then agreed to allow Luis’ business partner, Michael, to complete the job as long as Luis would have nothing to do with the project. Michael explained that they had a number of special ordered materials that they already placed deposits on. Several weeks later, it became evident that Michael was not aware of the initial $62,000 deposit that we made to Expert Contractors and was led to believe by Luis, that we had only paid $28,000 to date. Luis cashed the check and did not record the payment with the Expert Contractors.
For a couple of months, all seemed to be well and things were moving along under Michael’s direction. Michael then began to lose interest and started to leave many things unfinished and stopped returning our calls. In Mid-March, we contacted the plumbing, electric and building inspectors to schedule the inspections needed. This is when the numerous shortcuts taken by the Expert Contractors (both Luis DeSouza Jr and Michael Dos Santos) came to light. Their activity was not only deceptive, but illegal.
I will spare you the full details of the numerous violations that were not up to code and could have resulted in serious injuries and/or death. It was discovered that their subtractors were working without licenses and were only able to obtain permits by falsifying documents.
We have since cut ties with The Expert Contractors and brought in new contractor to finish out the project. It has been a much better experience working with the new contractor, one that knows what they are doing. It amplifies the unprofessionalism, lack of skill, and overall unpleasant experience it was working with Luis and Michael. With each layer we peel back, it reveals another corner that Luis and Michael cut causing more and more money out of our pocket.
I would not recommend The Expert Contractors to anyone due to their unprofessionalism, lack of accountability and deceitful business practices. I hope that Michael and Luis never scam anyone again like they did us. After reading this review, I hope you reconsider The Expert Contractors. If by chance you still think hiring this company is a good idea, I just ask you proceed with extreme caution and have a good lawyer on standby.