Sound Renovation Building

Dumitru built my family's 466 sq ft detached ADU/garage. From the get-go Dumitru was friendly, communicative, collaborative, and very dedicated to the project. Our initial conversations during the bidding process contained a site visit and hours long conversations fielding questions, narrowing in details about the process, budget, and overall scope of work. His references spoke highly of his outstanding character, cleanliness, and detailed craftsmanship/quality of work. When we greenlit the project, Dumitru was excited and shared his joy to be able to deliver on his promise. He was super friendly with us and our little kids. Throughout the duration of the project family and friends were always welcome to say hi and check out the work including our curious kiddos, 2 and 4 yrs old who, Dumitru always greeted and engaged with like family. As to his dedication, Dumitru was at the forefront of every process along the way. He showed up when he said he would, he followed up and checked in with any work he subcontracted out, he worked on framing, finish work, drywall, roofing, a ton of little and big things. During the project there were a number of decisions that needed to be made and Dumitru's desire for excellence resulted in a number of upgrades to the design choices. One of our personal favorites is the build out of our skylights to increase the spaciousness and maximize the opening to the fullest degree. We purchased an Ikea kitchen and Dumitru added a bunch of custom elements to give it some extra flair and make it special--custom trim, hidden drawers for more storage, etc. Dumitru included many little details to make things pop when he completed the siding and trim on the exterior of the building. The list could go on and on...In our contract we opted to take care of a few things ourselves, and Dumitru was helpful in giving advice and coaching us up on the project as well as setting us up to be as successful as we could be. As for site cleanliness, Dumitru is very orderly, tidy and constantly cleaned up. There were multiple times my neighbors commented on how friendly and impressed they were with his work. As with any project, not everything hums along perfectly. Dumitru did have to problem solve and come up with solutions to scenarios that came up. He was passionate about delivering on his word and he followed through, even when elements were out of his control he would find a way to overcome them. We got our Certificate Of Occupancy in Jan, and we are very proud and impressed with the work Dumitru was able to accomplish.

Nature of the dispute:

The original quote for all the work was $11,300.00 and I have paid $10,00.00 upfront and LESS THAN 30% percent of the work has been done and much of this work needs to be torn off and redone as it is not done correctly as photo evidence shows. Dumitru did not purchase $4,750.00 of materials for the project, maybe around $2000.00 MAX. Dumitru certainly hasn't done $6550.00 in labor on the project.

Shortly after starting the project the shakedown game started. Dumitru changed the story about what the job was going to take and said he needs more plywood for the house. Dumitru bought 11 pieces of plywood and charged me $950.00 which at today's price at Home Depot cost $163.35. Dumitru added to the Invoice the ADDITIONAL labor cost for the house of $1100.00 as he purposely miscalculated his initial bid on purpose. I told him I was extremely upset about this and I told him I didn’t agree with the cost of the plywood and that he had already quoted me for the labor of the house. I demanded to see his receipts. Dumitru got very angry with me and would not show me any receipts. Dumitru yelled at me and said "This is how I make my profit!". I didn't agree with this so Dumitru promised to change the invoice to reflect what the plywood actually cost. This never happened. Also, none of this ADDITIONAL labor was ever performed as photo evidence shows.

Numerous times Dumitru would come over and then leave and go to other jobs and I had to text him if he was going to show up or come back and work on the project that day. Dumitru hardly spent any time on the project, about 70 hours MAX. The amount of work done on the house reflects this.

Dumitru came to the house on Monday morning July 25th stating that he wanted an additional $2000 dollars to keep working on the project and I said I was not comfortable with that since I had already paid him $10,000 for the project and not more than 30% has been done on the project. He yelled at me that he wasn’t going to continue unless he got another $2000 and I said I’m not going to pay you the final amount until you finish the project. He kept yelling, crying and literally stomping around my front yard like a spoiled little toddler. I actually had to ask him if he was alright and told him to take a minute to breathe. Dumitru's behavior and actions appeared very hostile and unstable to me and were very threatening. He said he was leaving for the day to calm down and coming back in the morning. I have to say this is the most unprofessional, hostile and unethical behavior I have personally witnessed from a business.

Dumitru came to the house on Tuesday morning July 26th. Dumitru immediately stated that he wanted an additional $2000 dollars to keep working on the project. I told him that I was not comfortable giving him that money as the project not even 30% done and that I would not be able to give him any more money until it was completed as I already had paid him $10,000. I told him that he hadn’t still hadn’t corrected the bill for the plywood that he overcharged me for already. Dumitru got extremely angry again and started yelling at me. I asked him numerous times to stop yelling at me. I had to fire him and inform him that he was trespassing on my property had and call the Police as he tried to steal the site materials from my home that I had ALREADY paid for. The Police arrived at my home and I spoke to the officer. Dumitru fled the scene before the Police arrived.

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Problems with work done:

Siding doesn’t match up at the corners of the house. I was expecting this to be done correctly and it wasn’t. I was very upset about this and voiced my complaints about this as I had told him prior to starting ANY work. Needs to be removed and fixed.

Dumitru didn't space the siding correctly compared to the rest of the house. I voiced my complaints about this and was very unhappy about it as it did not match the rest houses siding. Needs to be removed and fixed.

Dumitru didn't install the top living room window properly. Trim doesn't lay even around window. Needs to be removed and fixed.

Dumitru started the project with 1x4 trim around windows and siding on the corners and then switched to 2x4 for some reason everywhere else and the look is very inconsistent. I don’t know why he did this as it looks bad. Needs to be removed and fixed.

Dumitru damaged front main lower window. I had to have him swap it out with a non-damaged one.

Dumitru messed up the front door deadbolt with the wrong type of screw. Needs to be removed and fixed.

Dumitru messed up installing baseboard trim on side of garage. Dumitru even stated it to me was at the wrong height. Needs to be removed and fixed.

I had to speak to Dumitru over four times about fixing the living room window trim. Never fixed. Needs to be removed and fixed.