Miw Builders

MIW and Elton got in over their heads. They may be able to do a cheap condo repair but an entire home is beyond their abilities which is a shame because Elton is a pretty nice guy. He started off with a great crew of guys who were really committed and took pride in their work. At some point early on in the 6 months of this project Elton got into fight with the crew (a group of brothers) and they quit/were fired.
A new crew showed up that were sloppy and unprofessional. We failed both the rough electric and framing inspections,which Elton never told me. A guy from his crew whispered it to me at the house. Elton's bravado negated his ability to tell me personally we had failed the inspections. I had to pay an additional $4,000.00 as a result of this mistake for proper heat reflectors for the recessed lighting.
There were no less than 3 references in the contract that the walls were to be delivered at a level 5 finish. Elton must not have known what that was. The skim coat and paint job was (by an outside neutral party) "level 3 at best"
Elton had the SAME unqualified sub crew try this 3 times, each time poorly and no better than level 3. The final review of the walls before he quit -- his friend came in and said they were level 3. As a painter and plasterer himself he pointed out all the mistakes, the skim coat was not dried 72 hours before painting resulting in spider web cracks all over, the walls had not been properly taped or sanded and in general looked like a poor job.
MIW was supposed to receive payment #5 after the painting was completed, as well as some other other benchmarks. I understood Elton needed money to keep going so I paid him $24,000.00 of the $30,000.00 and told him I would give him the rest after the walls were finished correctly.
That's the last we saw of Elton who stopped showing up. I then received a "Notice to Owner" which is the first step in Florida of putting a mechanics lien on my house. I ended up having to get a lawyer and PAY HIM $8,500.00 or let it slog through the courts until the lien could be removed preventing anyone else from finishing. I had the choice to sue him, and be out of my house for at least six months or pay him off. Disgusting.
I have remodeled 3 houses and never dealt with this level of disregard for quality of work. All the wood floors he installed warped, Many of the new walls were out of plumb, lights in rooms and hallways did not line up correctly. The work refacing the kitchen cabinets looked good except for the fct that it looks like they spay painted the ends and some of the interiors to save on material on refacing (and let me tell you silver metallic spray paint in a kitchen done poorly looks BAD.) In addition he installed 4 pocket doors, all of which warped and were unusable, neglected to recess the tracks as it was called for in the plans, and cut the doors too short so there was a two inch gap at the bottom of the entrance to the master suite.
Overall nice guy, good himself but used awful subs after his crew quit. He realized he was in over his head and bailed. Not only that but to be malicious he disconnected toilets and never installed the p-traps for the sink making the house unlivable even if I wanted to move in during the final phase.
Now it's hard to find a new GC who will come in to finish the last 10% and then fix someone else mistakes. It's been over a year since I closed on the house and I have still not moved in. MIW came by way of reference of friends he had done a small condo for. This was clearly a job that was too complex for him and his crew to finish.
Don't always rely on references -- in this case it was apples and oranges between what he'd done for my friends and what he failed miserably at delivering to me.