AH, the ups and downs of General Contracting. Someone once said, it's "like swimming with the sharks." That's true, because you come face to face with the dirty side of humanity - 1 in 10 clients don't want to pay the final payment, and on the other hand, you have subcontractors who want more money, and don't want to do the work on their contract. And then they all get angry at YOU!
I just had to spend my Sunday writing this Complaint, about "Steven Montes", the pseudonym of Gerardo Ludizaca. Is it a BAD sign when your demolition subcontractor has a false ID? Hmm....
Anyway, if this provides you some entertaining reading, or a reason to stay in grad school, then I can feel like I provided a service to humanity today -
579 61st St BK NY 11220
New Jersey Office of the Attorney General
Division of Consumer Affairs
P.O. Box 45025
Newark, New Jersey 07101
Dear NJ Department of Consumer Affairs
This is a Summary of the legal basis of our complaint against Steven Montes and S Montes Construction, NJ License # 13VH10668200. We are providing 28 pages of evidence. This Summary will point out some highlights (or lowlights) of our experience with this licensed NJ Contractor, and propose a remedy of a $7,500 refund.
On 11/19/21, I met personally with Steven Montes and contracted S Montes Construction to be a Licensed Subcontractor, on my project at 194 Westville Ave, in Caldwell, NJ. It’s an emergency home repair for a house - a young family with kids has been displaced by a natural disaster - a huge oak tree destroyed the front face of the home.
I paid a deposit of $10,000 to Montes, and we signed a contract. Copies of both of which are enclosed here.
Montes signed the attached contract, to be 100% responsible for, among other things:
All demo work and garbage removal - trash and demo debris will be moved by S Montes into the on-site dumpster. All sheet rock and insulation that suffered water damage will be removed, by SMC, from ceiling and walls in basement level and first floor. S Montes will handle: NEW INSULATION installation. S Montes will handle: NEW ROOF: S Montes will supply labor for demo, insulation, and roofing parts and will be rebuillding the roof and installing new roof shingles throughout. Includes tear-off of existing shingles. Installation of new felt paper or blue plastic layer, ice shield, drip edge where necessary.
We had some delays getting the building permit, but Montes did not start the work, in November, nor in December. I urged him to start once we got the permit, in mid December. He did not.
In fact, Montes, failed to text me or respond to my texts from Dec 16th until Jan 4.
The Client, Marcus Rhaney, grew very agitated after the New Year’s Holiday, and I so took initiative and personally started the demo and clean up work with my own crew, on January 4. As you can see from the attached text, Montes promised to arrive that day and “bring 3 good guys” but he failed to do so. He agreed in writing to arrive at 8 AM and did not. He did not communicate why.
The next day, Jan 5, he did put two guys on the job, but I never saw him personally on the job. He texted me all day that he was about to arrive.
I brought my own crew that day as well. He had promised to “Facetime at 7 AM” with me, but he failed to do that either.
The day earlier, on 1/4/22 I texted him this First Warning:
“Call me right at 7 AM tomorrow, from 194 Westville, with a crew of guys. Otherwise we want the $10,000 returned and we will complain to NJ Licensing. What you did today was a “breach of contract.” It’s not right.”
On or around 1/5/22 Montes and his crew did not follow the Scope of Work document that I provided them - and they destroyed and removed the kitchen tile floor, which was not ordered.
On 1/7/22 Montes asked for more money, as an advance on future work, which was extraordinary and startling. We refused.
On 1/20/22 I did make a mistake by sending via Cash App an additional $800 to Montes, to “Demo the Living Room and Dining Room Subfloor” which we determined were rotten, and were a safety hazard.
Montes took the money but to this date, has failed to do that work, either. This work was Montes’ idea, since his people did remove the damaged oak floor from the living room and dining room.
However,
When on 1/24/22 I personally led a crew of carpenters to do repair to the ceiling joists and roof over the dining room. I realized that the “Demo Crew” of Montes and Co. needed to do more demo work - there were still more damaged rafters and roofing materials to remove before we could work. My associate Obed Palao and I sent a set of pix to Montes. We begged him to come back and do more demo work. He never did.
Earlier, that week, I sent Montes a “Second Warning” in which I said:
Last chance. We are planning to file a complaint with New Jersey Licensing- and sue you for the $10,800, because you don’t communicate — you are unprofessional— demo did not get completed—and you don’t do what you promise. It sucks.
I explained to Montes many times that the dumpster company we use, Budget Dumpster, only has a dumpster on site for us for 10 days, and then there are “late fees” of $25 a day. I rented a third dumpster for Montes to use and the rental period started on 1/26/22. He never used it. I arrived there last Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, and the dumpster was clean as a whistle.
The final straw was when I called Steven on the phone, on 2/11/22 and he apologized and said that he was “A little bit busy” and at that point I just couldn’t take it anymore, and decided that he had had two warnings, and it was time for a formal Complaint, and legal action.
He also texted me this AM, Sunday 2/13/22, obviously wanting to delay my Complaint to the Attorney General, and the NJ DCA, but he seems to only want to argue via text, not to do any work. He was not interested in fixing the problem by doing any work today.
This guy lacks the integrity of his word, and this kind of unethical behavior makes it hard for all licensed contractors to make a living.
We demand a refund of $7,500 and that is generous. This means that S Montes can keep $3,300 for doing 3 to maybe 4 or 5 days worth of demo work.
It has been three months: S Montes has failed to remove all damaged sheetrock, damaged roofing pieces, or the subfloor we paid extra for. It’s been a nightmare.
Sincerely,
Sander Hicks
Zen Space Makers, Inc. • 929 285 8602
Licensed by the City of New York • HIC # 1473010
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