Contractor from hell

[kadazeta]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?NC
I'm going to try to make a longer story short. We have mold in 2 restrooms and basement. Hired a restoration co. that said they could do the job for 2,900. The without coming back out they send a second estimate for about two or three hundred more b/c they forgot to include putting the dry wall back up once they finished. Hubby calls to tell them we have gotten paid and want to know what we must buy or whats included in the estimate. The co. wont tell him so I call. Im told paint,nails, flooring, shower repair and replace is all apart of the estimate but they wont set a start date until they see what the insurance co. has paid out. We fax it in and still no date set up for about two week. I call back again to get a date and I am told that now there are extra fees and again no one has been to my home to start working yet so how do they come up with these additional fees? A new adjustor from this restoration co. in Holly Springs must come out and take another look. This guy comes out and looks and takes notes and tell us they are a turn key service and can pick up a toilet of our choice and sinks and that they can be put in instead of us putting back in what came out of the restroom since they would have to put the toilet and sink back in anyway. Again wait a few more days and only hear back after I call and email. Men come and tear wholes in walls, leave molded fiber glass in drive way, nails in drive way, small chips in large amounts stuck in my carpet floor by the way we still sleep in the room and the wood is to be molded . The men come day two and only work 2 hrs maybe three and vanished for hours. We call home office b/c we don't have water to flush or cook with and go to a neighbors house. Come to find out by the owner that the men went to the movies b/c he found ticket stubs in the work van. Me smoking on property and we are not smokers. Two large fans left in home to dry molded wet wood for 11 days and no one calls or come by. I email the chief adjustor and no response for at least 2-3 days so I call and leave a voice message. Then the owner comes, say sorry, email me two men fired for mishanling job, he shared personal info. about the two men that were fired. One was actually fired and the other quit. He tells us bottom line our insurance co. did a bad estimate and his guy which by the way still works for him did a bad job and he will need to try and get us an estimate within the 4,000 range to properly fix things. In addition to this fee we have to buy a shower that was in their first and second estimate for them to buy. The third estimate comes and is about 1400 more than the other two submitted. They want to charge to put in the new toilet and sink and now they need about a 1,000 to fix our very small bathroom. I need to know if we have to pay them being they are just trying to get the extra money given to us. I think we were overpaid by about 1200 but we have spent about 900.00 on the very basic toilet and sinks that will go into the restrooms. O, they said in the estimates they had to paint the wall but did not write in they had to take off the wall paper so now there is a fee for taking down the wall paper. The estimator told me mold grows on wall paper and it should not be in restrooms so he knew it had wallpaper. I just assumed the estimate ment he would take the paper off then paint. The list goes on and on. What are my legal rights? I have every email I sent them and they sent me. Before they stepped one foot into our home I have an email saying I think the estimate and from our conversations that they are saying the paint is included, toilet and sinks removed and replace no fee, .... and got a verbal response yes. Do they have to honor their orginal estimate? I can see the price going up if they discover something new. They have not yet they say they discovered that we had two floors or subfloor or something like that. My hubby said the house was build in the 1920 and at that time it was standard to have two floors so they should have know that it should not be a discovery and point #2 they could see the area affect from the basement since the basement is not finished. In fact their guy took pictures from the basement looking up to the master bathroom of the affected molded wood so how could they not no that both floor had to come out. If it is damaged on the top and underneath then two must come out.

[justalayman]

Do you have an actual contract with these folks or just an estimate? If a contract, hold them to the contract. If an estimate, it is more difficult to hold them to such pricing.

Did you say you have an insurance adjuster from your insurance company involved? If so, have you contacted them about what is happening?