Petra Construction & Management

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• By Lorraine M.

  March 9, 2019

  bathroom

  The contractor whom I hired was one of your screened and approved contractors. Not one item on the contract is performed correctly yet somehow he convinced me to part with so much money. I was a fool. I assumed he had necessary permits. I kept asking about the inspections, because I understand that having permits is a good thing - it is to protect the customer. I kept waiting for him to bring professionals in - a plumber, an electrician, a carpenter. That’s what a contractor does! But the only other persons were, on separate days, one of two unskilled laborers, one who did demo but incomplete, and the other who did spackling, and set up his machine on the back deck to cut tile when everything was still a mess! The laborer laid wonderboard and cut it around the metal door frame that was to be replaced! He would have butchered the tile to fit around the metal door frame too, but thankfully they left before he could do that. The contractor said he would only remove the trim of the metal doorframe and then cover it with wood trim! Impossible! It is one piece of hollow metal! He wouldn't listen to a thing I said, and kept making promises about the custom vanity and the Kohler faucet and toilet and shower...He didn't gut or insulate the ceiling and walls - he just took off tile and fixtures and did illegal plumbing. I said I wanted a rain shower, and at first he said that when he gutted the ceiling he'd be able to tell if he could do it if there was insulation. Gutting and insulating the ceiling was in the contract and should have been done on day one! I don't know why I let them return for day two, and why I gave them more money, except to say that he was very persuasive about how competent he was and what he was going to do and I am a complete moron! I'll blame chemo-brain! He didn't do the ceiling and said I couldn't have a rain shower! He didn’t gut the shower wall or the other walls! He installed a cheap shower pan, hiding the plastic drain, saying they are so expensive - $700! It is not what I wanted. The entire job is a loss. I'm grateful they didn't start tiling! The bathroom needs to be gutted plus there is a garage full of construction debris. He insisted he doesn't work without a permit, and permit applications are included in the price of the job in the contract - this is what allowed me to believe that he had applied for permits, as it was implied in the contract and he insists he follows the contract! He didn't show permits and he didn't apply for a permit until the sixth day in, and only after I asked him to show me the permit. Before that he kept insisting that his office had applied for a permit, and that it had expired and that he had had to reapply, indicating that the delay in the job starting had cost him the price of a second permit application. He emailed me a copy of the permit application which he clearly had just filled out and dropped at the building department that day, which was the sixth day into the job. The permit he handed me the next day was only for replacing fixtures and for tiling, though the contract was for a complete renovation. He had indicated a price for the complete job as less than half of the actual complete price, which he told me he did to avoid me paying a higher rate for the permit. All necessary permit applications were to be included in the price of the job, but somehow I paid for the permit in addition! Everything about the job is the biggest botch I have ever seen - leaving crumbling wonder board up and spackling it to new wonderboard, insisting that he would tear out the metal door frame and replace the trim after the room was tiled and painted, spackling around instead of removing a dead electric box from the whirlpool that was removed because the contract didn't refer to removing any electric boxes! Leaving a hole with wires from the 1950's for the vanity light, not centering it on the vanity wall because it doesn't say in the contract it needs to be centered. Everything has to be gutted. I fully expected he would have a plumber and an electrician and competent knowledgeable professionals! Not unskilled labor! He put wonderboard over the floor to hide the parts that needed to be replaced, and said, "I leveled the floor for you even though it wasn't in the contract." Replacing rotten floorboards is in the contract, though, and he ignored that! When I showed him how the waste pipes the worker installed were not descending, but actually then ascending toward the main waste pipe, he said that he was leaving the job and that he was calling the town and telling them he was off the project. I said that was wise. He said he knew a local plumber and he said he wasn't recommending him, but that he knew that he was licensed, and then he threatened that if I got the plumber and he found out the plumber did work for me without a permit, he would go after him to the town! He left my garage full of the construction debris. The hole around the shower trim is 2" larger diameter than it should be and too low. It is hard to learn a lesson that people can be deliberately deceitful, and it seems wrong to rat on a person, but shoddy work and strong-arm tactics need to be routed out.

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• By a user in New York

  June 16, 2017

  $29,000

  Petra construction and management was formerly partnered with Universal Renovation Consultants. Alex Duque led the work when I hired them. They were hired to do a ~$29,000 renovation for me and ended up doing over $30,000 in damages. I'm still fighting with their insurance company for the cost of repairs and the additional money that will be required of me to find another place to live for several months while my place is fixed. He destroyed my floors after doing them himself instead of having a professional team come in as he promised. He destroyed my bathroom by doing the work himself and not using a licensed plumber despite providing me with their insurance and license number. Every fixture he installed is loose or damaged. He claims that every screw up is "standard practice" and does everything he can to convince you that he knows best and you know nothing. Whatever you do, do not trust Alex Duque. He is nothing but a con artist who will screw you out of tens of thousands of dollars. Do not believe his lies about a 5 year guarantee if he's still making that promise. He will close his company so he doesn't have to honor it. That's what he and his partner did at Universal. Any company that promises a guarantee for longer than they've been in business is one to be wary of. I'm amazed that Angie's List is allowing him to relist despite all the complaints of running off with money he and his partner had on their old page. You can find it by searching on Google, they've stopped showing up in the Angie's List search.

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