Level Building & Remodeling

We used Level Building and remodeling to finish our basement and remodel a master bathroom and paid over $68,000 for his services. He had one employee who was a very hard worker but had no previous experience in construction. The project was expected to take 8 weeks and was later extended to 10 weeks but in total it took him 15 weeks and several of the details we asked for had to be omitted or we hired another contractor. We recently found out (October 2015) the plumber for the job still has not been paid and Level Left our jobsite in May of 2014. None of the baseboards or trim work in the basement was sanded before being painted so all of our woodwork has stop lines that are visible. When the molding and trim work was put on, none of the nail holes were filled and the trim never received a second coat of paint. When he caulked to put on the trim he left all of the caulk lines and they were never painted either. The new fridge for the basement was dented when he moved it, the new tub in the basement was severely scratched because it was used to clean trays when he grouted the floor. The grout was not the color I chose and is much lighter that what I asked for after being very specific that I wanted the darkest grout possible. The shower floor in the master bathroom cracked in 4 pieces a couple months after being finished and in both the basement and master bath pieces of grout have come out. When the trim was painted he painted it in his backyard so debreis is scattered throughout the woodwork which we will eventually need to replace. The new cabinets we purchased for the basement kitchen were used as toolboxes throughout the project and there is obvious wear and tear to the cabinet drawers. When the basement tub was installed it wasn't sealed so shortly after the remodel was finished the Sheetrock had to be replaced due to water damage. We have recently encountered the same problem and now the entire tub/shower needs to be taken out so the walls can be repaired. When we hired Level he said he could do all of the work but a couple weeks into the project he hired someone to tape, mud, texture & paint. When the work was not up to our standards,he agreed it was bad but did nothing to rectify the situation. The texture is very rough and sharp and eventually I plan to have the basement re sheerocked. Level currently has pictures of our home on their Facebook page advertising it as their work although they did not tape, texture, paint, do the artwork depicted in the picture or make the barn doors that were made by my husband and I. We also purchased white columns for our basement to hide support beams. Level was not sure how to install these so my husband took a day off of work to help him install them. The painting is very spakled and needs to be re finished. Since hiring Level we have had to hire additional contractors up repair the work done by them and so far we have paid an additional $4000. He also cut all the electric lines to our outdoor sprinkler system while he was framing the basement. It's still unclear as to why this was done since our panel is in our garage and he didn't have an explanation but this was yet another costly error that he did not have the money to repair that we had to fix. This is a very unprofessional, inexperienced contractor. He stated he had done several basements in his hometown and that he started a construction business for his friend from his hometown that is very successful. When I looked up the work of his friends business the work was very professional so I trusted I was getting a quality contractor. I later found out he worked for his friend and did not start his friends business. This was a costly mistake. I am not advising not to use him as a contractor because there are small jobs he is capable of doing, , however, if you are considering a large investment in your home I would strongly reconsider. I should also add, this was a winter project and when the snow melted I had 4 months of cigarette butts all over my yard by my basement window and front of my house. Worst contracting experience ever!