At the risk of sounding completely overdramatic, I am totally, utterly, outstandingly devastated. The kitchen remodel that I have dreamed about for 4 years, diligently saved up for 2 years, and spent months planning has turned into a complete nightmare with very upsetting consequences. My ultimate dream of creating the children’s clothing line I have planned for, saved for, and begun will now have to be put to a stop because of a contractor who has literally destroyed my kitchen. In a matter or hours, this person was able to cause around $10,000 worth of damage and I the only thing getting me through this without crying is my sense of humor. The moment I realized I was wearing my “Measure Twice, Cut Once” shirt on the day of the disaster, I had to laugh. What else can you do but laugh?
(make sure to read my last paragraph to find the answer to some questions you might have and also what YOU should look out for during a major remodel).
Here is the thing. I have dealt with many contractors before and have always had good experiences. In fact, the person that did our basement last year really set the bar high. Gus was incredible. Unfortunately, Gus was busy and wasn’t able to do our kitchen. No problem. I did my research, got recommendations, and hired a new guy named “Worst Contractor Ever” (name changed to prevent me from a defamation suit haha). All seemed well. He assured me that he is licensed, bonded, insured, yada yada.
Blue prints were drawn up by Lowes (this is NOT Lowes’ fault at all), Kraftmaid cabinets were ordered, appliances delivered. Everything was going according to schedule. We sold our entire kitchen to a friend. She got the counters, cabinets, sink, appliances, everything, leaving us with a blank slate.
“Worst Contractor Ever” arrived and started laying it all out. I kept an eye on him the whole time because that is just what I do. I like to monitor and nothing seemed off to me. At the end of Day One, it was coming together.
Day Two there wasn’t much activity because “Worst Contractor Ever” was only there for about 4 hours for unknown reasons. Apparently “WCE” had other things to do that day. Upper cabinets had been hung and while I noticed a few things that were off, all was okay. We were hoping that Day Three would be the conclusion with finishing work, trims, etc.
Day Three arrives and he had a guy named “Worst Assistant Ever” with him. “Worst Assistant Ever” was responsible for installing the cabinets and drawer pulls. Clearly, “WAE” has no experience with this particular job. I mean… how does one do this SO poorly. I literally stood there after seeing this and cackled. I laughed like a maniac. A maniac on meth. Ainsley said “Mommy, I don’t think he put these in correctly.” hahaha.
Clearly, I am overreacting. Who on earth actually cares if the screws go ALL the way in. I mean, after all, there are people without door handles, so I should be thankful that I even HAVE door handles. No one REALLY needs the screws to go in ALL the way.
Let’s also remember that putting big huge holes in the backs of almost ALL cabinets is totally okay. It gives it character. No one really likes shiny new objects, am I right? We don’t want to seem pretentious, so the holes enable us to bring it down a notch.
And why would one NOT want giant holes in their sink cabinet? We could actually use that space for storage, right? I mean, we could possibly use it to store extra toilet paper or extra muffins. In fact, this could be the perfect place to store snacks that we don’t want the kids to eat. Right there…. in those holes. Genius!
Ahhhh, more of those “character holes”…. perfect. Another notch down on the pretentious meter.
This part might actually win the prize of a favorite. Not only did he apparently use a butter knife from 1972 to cut the panels, but he also knew that I would want half an outlet peeking out. Nothing says new kitchen like half an outlet.
This is where I just can’t even explain. It is one of those situations where you have to be here to get the full effect. See those teeth looking things at the top? Well, they aren’t supposed to be there. In fact, it is all wrong and he cut into all my trim moldings to create this fancy effect. I still can’t fathom what was going through his brain when he did this. The best part is that one of those cabinets is actually upside down.
It may be hard to tell in the photo, but the handle is completely off center. This is about 90% of the cabinets.
Well…. there are more pictures, but I won’t bore you. I think you get the idea??
As soon as we saw what happened in a few hours on Day Three, we kicked him off the job. As terrible as this is, thank goodness we realized it before he did any more damage to electrical, plumbing, etc.
About 90% of our brand new, custom cabinets have been damaged. (again, this isn’t Lowes’ fault, in fact, they have been great, even though they kept spelling my name wrong). We have given “Worst Contractor Ever” an ultimatum: He pays us for the replacement or we take it further and have to file claims. Obviously, I don’t want to deal with the claims, but it is what we will have to do, if he chooses not to be responsible. After all, this should never have happened.
There is no moral to this story, really. It is more just a “this sucks” type of post and I am really so sad that someone would do this to us. He was clearly in over his head, even though this should have been a very straight forward job. In fact, we could have done this job ourselves, but I thought it would be nice to give my husband the break.
This money came straight from my accounts. I have saved for it to not burden my family. And now, I am not sure what will happen if we don’t see the money from “Worst Contractor Ever” because in the meantime, I have to order the replacements out of pocket. My new business, the one I have spent many sleepless nights on, will be at a standstill.
To answer a few questions I am sure people have. Hopefully these will help you out during your remodel:
*He had insurance, but we are not sure it is even legit at this point. Even so, insurance only covers injuries or damage to an item from say, dropping a cabinet or scratching a floor…. not from crappy workmanship.
*We are investigating his license. We didn’t make sure it was legit prior to the start of the job. We took his word for it and regretting that.
*We called our homeowner’s insurance. There is absolutely nothing your homeowner’s insurance can do about this.
*Small claims court will handle any claim under $12,000, but there is no guarantee of it being paid in the end.
*We got recommendations and did our due diligence. No matter how diligent you are, these things can still happen.
*The Better Business Bureau should be one of the first phone calls you make before hiring anyone. Make sure there are no issues with the person. There are no issues claimed on our guy, but you better believe that we will be filing with the BBB to make sure no one else goes through this.
*During your remodel or renovation, try your best to make sure someone is home to monitor and keep an eye on the work. I was there the entire time to keep an eye on things and that is what saved us for even further damage. If I wasn’t there to stop the project, it could have been even worse.
*Keep a paper trail of EVERYTHING, including Facebook messages, text messages, etc. Print them out or screen shot them periodically. These will be super important if you ever need to file a claim.
*Communicate with your contractor and be overly explicit in your expectations. Even if you think he knows what it is you want, explain it anyway. I did that with this person and even though it was a disaster, I feel 100% confident that it wasn’t my fault.
*Before touching or removing anything, take photos. Lots and lots of photos.
*If you have any issues or feel that you have been scammed, contact a lawyer right away. They will guide you on your next steps. Most law firms will offer a free consultation to at least get you going. You do not want to misstep and cause yourself even more issues, so go slow and do your due diligence.
I hope the above tips help others in this situation. Sadly, this situation can happen to anyone, no matter how much you think you have prepared properly.
In the meantime, we are figuring out how to maintain our sanity. We have amazing friends and family that are getting us through and we remind ourselves daily how lucky we are. I am so blessed and so thankful for everything that has even gotten us to this point. While it is a total bummer that I am in this situation, I also know that I am incredibly grateful for everything that has come my way. I will be sure to update as this progresses and one day, I will be able to share my beautiful new kitchen with you.
Hayley
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Haley, I am SOOOO sorry that this has happened to you, and now I am completely freaked out because we were looking at the possibility of having an addition put on our house this year or next…and it will be a much bigger job involving moving support walls! Now I am afraid to move forward with it! Everyone I talk to seems to have a contractor horror story. 🙁
oh no Hayley!! Please tell me you didn’t have to pay him first!!!
Oh sweet Jesus. How horrifying!!! I’m so sorry and hope it all works out in your favor in the end.
Oh my gosh! That is terrible! We had a nightmare cabinet guy when we built our house, but our issues were nothing compared to this. I hope everything works out for you!
The only words to be said are “wow” and “so sorry” and perhaps “wow” again.
Oh Hayley, I’m so sorry you are going through this. IT SUCKS!!! While we didn’t deal with a kitchen nightmare, we did go through a basement ceramic tile nightmare. In fact, here is our video that we used when we sued the idiot! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LHPWgDw1XXQ
I was the idiot who TRUSTED Angie’s List and bought a ‘Big Deal’ from them for a handyman in our area. Trusted that Angie’s list checked on his license, etc. Nope, they don’t do that. But I digress. The owner of Bell Valley
Contractors, ( I’m not afraid of a lawsuit, it’s not defamation when you have proof they screwed up royally!), talked the talk. He had lots of great things to say and seemed to know what he was doing. There were minor communication issues, etc etc to begin with. I should have listed to my gut. After 10 hrs of him and his assistant tiling, I was horrified by what I saw. The video says it all! I won’t go into my story here but feel free to email me for support and/or info.
Here are some additional tips that are super important!!!!!! READ THE ENTIRE CONTRACTOR CONTRACT BEFORE YOU SIGN!! Do you know why it’s so important? Because the standard contracts state that if you have a problem with the contractor, you must go through the state mediation board. That’s right…you can’t sue first, you must go through mediation if it’s in your contract. (Didn’t know it was in mine until it was too late.) So we withdrew our court case and went through mediation. It costs $750 just to open the mediation case!! That’s right! All told, when said and done, it will cost almost $1600 to take a contractor through the mediation process!
We played his game and paid the money only to hear from the contractor that they couldn’t afford mediation. So we LOST most of our $750 that we put down to start the process! However, it then opened the door for a small claims case. Which we did. The Judge laughed at their garbage and awarded us every dime we sought without question.
Let me back-track. As soon as you realize you are in trouble with a contractor and fire him, get another contractor in to evaluate the job. It doesn’t matter if that contractor will do the work to repair it, you are looking for his expertise. Have him write up an evaluation of what is wrong and how much it will cost to repair it. Do this before you touch anything in that room. You will need this for your lawsuit!!! It’s so important!
What do you do after you win your court case? You wait 30 days and then file with the court and they will place a note on their credit. So if they try to get loans, etc., your suit will show up. And then you wait to get paid. Just because you win doesn’t mean a thing. The Judge can’t force them to pay you. We went 12 months before we saw a dime from our contractor. Every month I send a friendly letter reminding them that they owe us $2400. Now they pay $50/mo when they feel like it. It sucks, but we know one day we will get paid. That money will then go toward repairing the floor.
Do you know why the floor needs repairing? Because of the 2nd contractor who fixed the floor. He was referred by a good friend and came in to be our hero. He gave us a price brake, agreed to go to court, etc. (He blew off court as we sat waiting for him with the Judge.) The guys seemed to do a good job and were grouting on day 3 when the contractor needed all of his money. I paid him in full because things went so well. Nope, the next day when we walked on the floor you could see popped tiles, and other unevenness. So now I’m tripping every time I’m walking on the floor. Which brings me to my next tip….DON’T PAY THEM MORE THAN 1/3 OF THE MONEY UNTIL THE JOB IS DONE AND YOU INSPECT! I learned my lesson. Sorry this is so long, but I want to share more ways to protect yourself.
We did file with BBB and initially they gave them a D rating. But the BBB, on the request of the 1st contractor, gave them a B+. I don’t know why, it’s ridiculous. Hayley, push forward to sue, you deserve to get your money. Seeing a lawyer helps. We paid the $100 consultation fee to talk to our lawyer. We then sued for the money and the Judge did award us the lawyer money too.
WOW. Just WOW. I am so sorry that someone would do that to you and your family.
I think my 9 year old could have done a better job.
Sheesh.
I hope he mans up and pays for his mistakes.
So so sorry this happened to you! We did our kitchen two years back and in the end decided to have Kitchencraft (our cabinet manufacturer) install it with their own contractors, because we figured the extra cost of that could save us a nightmare because they’d be the ones dealing with any problems. So glad we did that, contracting is such a touchy thing because it’s your personal space that they could potentially mess up and it’s so devastating to have that ruined! I hope it all gets sorted out from here as quickly and painlessly as possible. 🙁
This is so awful. I’m practically speechless. I was so excited for you. 🙁
So thankful you shared this but more thankful for your sweet spirit in the midst of this awful situation. Looking forward to seeing the good outcome.
Oh no friend! I am so so angry for you. Blah this is terrible. Seriously this guy really needs to be held accountable!
If you can, check into the legality of putting liens on his equipment/vehicles. You may need a lawyer to do so but you will certainly recoup some of your losses (by selling his property) while at the same time grabbing him by the scruff of the neck and shaking him.
Just an FYI to help you and hope to see your sewing posts and sales soon.
Oh Hayley, I’m so sorry this has happened to you. I’m sure in a couple of years you’ll be telling this story and laughing about it, but it must be just crushing right now. Having gone through a similar situation myself, may I offer a suggestion. Put a timeline on the payment you need from WCE to cover all the replacements. Also explain to him that, if he doesn’t meet it, you plan to post these picture on the internet with his name, and that you have however many followers we are on your blog. (He doesn’t have to know that most of us live thousands of kms from you) In our city we have an organization called Home Stars set up by good contractors where people can evaluate the service they receive. If you have something like that in your city, you could report it there too.
OMG Hayley, I’m so sorry. That is simply incredible. How can anybody think that this is how he is supposed to put a kitchen together. I really hope that you’ll be able to get your money back soon and that your big dream will only be on the back burner for a short time. Maybe you can go for some crowdfunding for your children’s line. I’m sure many of your blog readers and pretty much all of your blogger friends would love to help you start this! I sure would!
I still hope that you’ll have a wonderful christmas!
This is so sad. I’m sorry this happened and on top of it – at Christmas time. WCE exhibits two of my least favorite traits. Laziness and not caring about quality in what you do. Hope you can recover some of the money down the road. To have this affect your business plan makes me very angry! You are so talented and deserved that very much.
Oh my gosh, this makes me sick even thinking about it! Have you called the BBB? What’s the name of that website that people give reviews at? Yelp, and Angie’s List (I just had to google those since I haven’t thought about them in a couple of years since we moved to Korea) I would leave a review with photos so that no one else gets stuck with this kind of workmanship! If you do end up suing him, I hope you are able to recover money for lost work as well, and if small claims wont recover all you have lost, see if you can go to regular court and sue him for legal fees as well! This is clearly a flagrant disregard of the value of your cabinets, since it’s not like he stopped after damaging just one, he KNEW what he did with each and every one, and still kept doing it.
Ugh. This is terrible! I recommend you seek out the services of a local attorney (obviously, check their license and record, but I don’t have to tell you that!) for help with this. You should be able to get your money back and more, but here is a time when expert help could really make a difference in the outcome. I know you’ve had it up to here with engaging professionals at this point, but as someone pointed out above, mediation clauses, etc. are common and small claims court may not be your best option. Good luck! Inder
My husband does remodels and HVAC/appliance repair and was just flabbergasted when I showed him this. He also said, for your and everybody’s future information “Bonded” is what you need to cover not doing the job properly. TN requires bonding and insurance both for remodeling or contracting licensing and you can search for licenses online. Don’t know if you have the same kind of database available or not.
Thanks so much for sharing your story. Im sure it was therapeutic to get it all out there too. Thanks for the tips as well.
Thank you, Tiffany. It was helpful to share.
wow…so sorry you are dealing with this mess! Thank you for sharing though as we will be remodeling our kitchen in a few months and appreciate the info and warnings.