Independent Construction

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• By Anonymous

  June 6, 2018

  Wood deck tearout and install new all Trex deck.

  $50,000

  This was the worst ten month long contractor/crew experience I've ever had.

  Charles is the most ineffective, inane, inept, irresponsible general contractor I've ever had the displeasure to meet. Him and his crew were experts in the art of BS...until I got tired of all the lies.

  Home Depot of Marysville Washington referred me to him. I had gone into the store to get some odds and ends and saw their “Pro Desk”. I am SO sorry I did. Little did I know what kind of an ordeal Home Depot had handed me.

  My 1200 sqft deck needed a total tear-out, all new hangers, joists, beams and poured footers. In other words an all new construction. I opted for all Trex including the handrails. Cost was approximately $50,000.00.

  He was hardly ever at the job site and let his crew of inexperienced people run itself. Worst work example: They had incorrectly installed the Trex handrails to the Trex deck using “extra long” screws instead of bolt and block. I discovered the code violation myself. When I pointed it out they had the nerve to say that “everybody does it like that” and told me the inspectors just look at their work and accept it. What the heck is wrong with these people?

  And where was the GC to watch over them? Who knows?

  There was actually three violations on that handrail, but the one I mention is the most dangerous to the home owner. If they hadn't screwed up the installation the first time by not following the Trex assembly instructions and hadn't had to rebuild it I would have never noticed the missing bolts. I had kept trying to get them to follow the Trex instructions time and time again, but it fell on deaf ears. None of the crew would listen to me and neither did the GC. And step ONE is to bolt and block those posts. Which they didn't do until I pointed it out. When they made it per code, the lead made it sound like it was a special request. Special request? That's the way it's SUPPOSED to be in the first place. Typical contractor BS.

  Crooked lines and cuts, things misaligned, things not centered, not level, not plumb. I think these guys could screw up replacing a light bulb.

  And again, where was the GC? Absent.

  I asked Charles over and over about the permit. Each time was a different reason/lie why he didn't have one. It reminded me of “The dog ate my homework” kind of lies. At first he mumbled “They're around”. Then he said he had all his permits and receipts in his wifes car in a bag and the car was broken into and the bag stolen. And he had to add it was parked in front of his church (like that's supposed to matter). Then it was “I didn't say I had permits”. He never got a permit over the ten months it took his crew to “finish” this deck so now it's up to me. And it wasn't really finished, I just got tired of them coming back and screwing stuff up. The items that are left are easy enough to do by myself.

  Now here it is over a year since our first contact and he STILL hasn't gotten a permit. He only got interested in getting one after I went to the courthouse and talked to the permit people.

  He's also a licensed home inspector. What kind of homes does he inspect? Dog houses?

  In a nutshell:

  STAY AWAY FROM THIS GUY!!

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