Gilchrist Investments

I will say that Gilchrist in my opinion are honest and wanting to do a good job. Most of the workers worked very hard. More direction was needed but the guys tried to do a god job at all they did. I think the job I had was too big for them. I think they would do a really nice job on smaller renovation jobs. Also, more attention to keeping the job site clean would be nice.
The job was tear the roof off down to the top of the walls and build new roof and tear out the old drive way and pour a larger driveway. Jeremy Gilchrist came in and gave me a quote that was in line with others. So, when we discussed him getting the job he said he would be on site to oversee the job. However, Jeremy was not on site much If all went well that would not have been of importance. Things did not go that smooth.
When we had discussed doing the job we spoke as to how the roof need to be removed. They decided to do it differently and that resulted in them tearing down a small brick wall which I will admit it was very poorly done but would not have been destroyed if we would have taken the roof down as we discussed. That wall would later cost me an additional $300.00 to have a wall built back in the same place of the wall they knocked down with concrete board that I supplied.
When they tore the roof off the had it off for four days which made me mad. They did not have someone on site that could read the plans properly. The did not contact the company that I got the drawings from for help. I went out first thing on the third day and got with the lead on the job. After a short discussion, they were able to get the roof going again. My roof was supposed to have four foot eaves which is large but the original builder had four foot eaves. Well they are not four feet because again they could not read the prints properly. They failed the inspection two times and they still did not get it like the inspector wanted but it would do.
When they had, the materials delivered they tore up my front yard which was bad enough but they managed to tear up my neighbor’s front lawn as well. I had to go and tell them that they needed to correct the damage to my neighbor’s lawn.
In the original discussion, I pointed out that l mast would need to be moved and Jeremy did not think it was an issue. When it came up that it needed to be moved Jeremy was crying that it would cost him a thousand dollars. I was able to get someone to do the work for $200.00 and a $150.00 in equipment. I paid for that as well.
The driveway failed inspection twice and they tore up my lawn a lot worse than they should have.
Now when we started the job it was to be completed in three weeks. It took six and a half weeks. Gilchrist completed the job and it looks pretty good but had a lot of room for improvement. I tried to get Jeremy to do walk out on the final job. I could not get him to do the walk out on the job. I was hoping to show him were he could make improvements on the job and save money in doing the work.

We entered an agreement with Jeremy Gilchrist on March 4th 2016. He agreed to remodel both houses on the property
On Sept 7th 2016 he abandoned the project with less than 60 % of the work completed.
After Mr. Gilchrist pulled all workers from the project on and quit via email, we found many egregious errors on his company's part. There is no record of a permit for water/plumbing through the Sewerage and Water Board which is necessary in the Parrish of New Orleans. All plumbing was done incorrectly and not to code, and must be removed and redone. This means a proper open wall inspection (requiring us to open the walls he closed up) is necessary costing us over 7000 dollars of his work to be redone. We were charged for a water permit invoice and this was never obtained according to the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans. There are violations in the electrical, which must be redone to bring the property up to code.
In addition to the permit violations, working without a permit, using unskilled labor, poor craftsmanship, completing about 40% of the project, he purchased items with our funds and then never dropped off the items after abandoning the project. These items include all assets that were in the original agreement and have been included on numerous invoices.
In Summation:
Plumbing – worked without a plumbing permit, charged us for a plumbing permit, all work had to be reworked because it was not to code costing us an additional $7500.

Electric: Multiple electrical violations with the city held up project. Upon further inspections, electrical work was done incorrectly and has cost us over $3000 to correct.

Abandoned job leaving more than 60% of work unfinished that was already paid for. These items and more were listed on invoices and our original work list attached to the contract.
HDLC window in back house left incomplete
Rotten wood not replaced, siding and appropriate sealant not finished
Untreated lumber used on parts of exterior of both houses left exposed
Insulation not installed in both houses
New windows incorrectly installed/broken
All molding not installed
Six HDLC windows not installed in Front House, in addition that one of the windows was ordered that was the incorrect size
Did not complete foundation work on front house leaving a back room disconnected from sills
Did not install flooring or drywall in front house
Did not repair porch flooring in both houses
Did not install ridge venting in front house roof
Did not install gutters on either house
Front doors not installed in front house
Brick fireplaces not repaired and filled in
No exterior or interior painting done
The termite contract was not completed
Claimed to have purchased the materials required to finish the job (building materials as well as electric stove, toilet, and Ductless AC units) and refused to deliver these items when requested after quitting the job

Follow up from the LSLBC:
The company was fined and put on probation:
https://www.lslbc.louisiana.gov/app/uploads/minutes_res_06142017.pdf