James Clifton General Contractor

Our experience with JC Home Repair was a nightmare to say the least. James was very nice and seemed knowledgeable in the beginning, but there were quite a few red flags that we shouldn't have overlooked. He didn't listen well at all, he talked over me and my mother repeatedly, he wasn't responsive when we had questions (it would take days to get a text or call back), he wouldn't show up on time as promised, he always had an excuse for why the work wasn't continuing (i.e. he had a family party to go to, his employee was out sick, he was out of town, etc.) and this would go on for weeks before we could finally get someone over to finish what they started. It was as if they only had 2 employees working for them. However, we were very patient throughout all of this. Our initial project was just to repair the water heater. It took quite a long time to complete that job, but eventually they did. Then it turned out we needed to remodel our entire kitchen, so we decided to stick with James despite all the red flags and give him a chance. My mom ended up getting a home improvement loan, which cannot be touched until the job is completed. They pushed my mom several times to lie and say the job was completed so that all the money would go to them, or they wouldn't be able to start. She refused repeatedly, so when it came time to start, they told my mom they needed $10,000 upfront for materials. Which is about half the cost of the whole job. We couldn't believe it. We spoke to his wife, who was incredibly rude and wouldn't let us speak at all, and she told us that's just how they run their business. She expected us to put $10,000 on a credit card to front them the money. We of course said no. They wouldn't be paid until the job was completed because my mom can't touch the loan until it is. If she had $10,000 lying around we wouldn't have needed the loan in the first place. James and his wife were aware of this from the very beginning. In fact, they were the ones who recommended my mom get that specific loan. His wife kept insisting that they couldn't move forward with the work until we gave them the $10,000. Again, we said no, so she accused us of trying to get away with a free kitchen. Those were her exact words. She said if they were even an inch off, we could just say we didn't want to pay them and walk away with a free kitchen. First off, why would the kitchen be an inch off? You're the professionals, everything should be done correctly. Second of all, if we had given them that money and they decided to just not show up, my mom would've been out all that money. She was the one who was assuming all of the risk. There was no way we could've, or even would've tried to walk away with a free kitchen. They are running a very shady business, so I wanted to write this review to warn people. They will come across as nice in the beginning, but don't ignore the red flags. We wasted 5 months with them, and now we have to completely start over with a new contractor. However, I'm so thankful my mom didn't give them the money, because it would've been a total disaster. She ultimately would've been left in debt, with no kitchen. We just spoke to our new contractor yesterday and he said they've never asked for a deposit, especially for half the cost of the job. I hope James and his wife take the time to read this review. They need to realize what they're doing is very wrong, and I hope no one has to go through what my mom and I went through. Stay away from JC Home Repair.

I used James Clifton General to remodel my basement. The Job contracted for was to insure my basement would not have moisture issues. He provided me an estimate, a schedule, a detailed description of the people he was going to use, the quality of the work to be expected and his assurance he had knowledge of the product that was being installed. The only thing that was accurate was the money he charged. His work was shoddy. His workers-damaged material required for the job and did not replace it. He did not provide the robust crew of competent professionals he promised, most of the time only one person showed up with the wrong tools, no help and no guidance. The sad part this was one of his best people. They left my place a mess after work was done for the day. His crew clogged my toilet with human excrement and left it for my daughter to find and me to cleanup. The job took months instead of the two-week timeframe and it was left unfinished by my request. I just could not stand by while this circus played out. He flat-out lied to me about the people to be used, the work to be accomplished and the way he would make things right. These lies happened on a daily basis. After his people broke the screen on my door and it took him two weeks to have it repaired. I literally gave him money to go away. I do not want him to come anywhere near my house again. I will have my room fixed and completed by a reputable Contractor. This has been one of the worse experiences I have ever had with a contractor.