J&J Home Restorations

I have written quite a few reviews. And in all honesty, I typically write reviews when I’m either pissed or overtly ecstatic. Neither of which are bad, however, I think there is something to be said for taking time to let all the emotions calm, let the dust settle, and revisit.
This may sound like the start of a bad story and as I’ve replayed the turn of events over in my head, I see every juncture where I went wrong and made a mistake or didn’t listen to my gut instinct. But sometimes, in the middle of a remodel you don’t think clearly, you want to trust that people say what they’ll do, and you just want them to finish and get the hell out of your life!
The owner Jim Hoffman runs a «fly by night» shady business with extremely unethical business practices, both on the client side and the employee/​laborer side. Despite this business owners ability to articulate himself well, initially treat your home like a well-​respected space during an estimate, you WILL get none of that once monies have been given and the work has been done.
I’m going to annotate this as much as possible. Because Jim put my significant other and I through HELL and back and then once more for good measure. Hopefully the following bullet points will serve my memory of misery justice:
The PROJECT:
— The scope of the project was drywall demo, clean-​up, re-​install, taping, and mudding.
— Jim gave us a fair estimate and was even «generous» enough to do some window install. Wow, what a nice contractor, right? WRONG.
— Jim mentioned that he had to stick to a certain budget while we negotiated the price because the owners didn’t like if he low-​balled the price too much. We later learned that Jim IS the owner and he was just toying with us.
DAY ONE:
— Three guys showed up looking like they were ready for a picnic and a light ball game. No work boots, masks, long sleeve shirts to cover their arms from all the drywall and insulation to be removed. NADA. The guys had no IDEA what the scope of their work entailed. Jim was also MIA and never called us to mention he wouldn’t be there on the first day of the project. Despite the fact that he assured us he is the project manager.
— 7 phone calls later, Jim never picked up, called back, or even texted. However, he did manage to call one of his guys to fill them in on the job.
— Already flustered I let the guys begin the work. We’d taken time off from our respective jobs to see the project through.
Day TWO — THIRTEEN
— We saw Jim, MAYBE three times during the entire project.
— Our drywall project was massive. It included 80% of the entire house. ONLY 2 guys were on the job 98% of the time, one of which was an apprentice or incompetent or both.
— The guys had no safety breathing apparatuses. We purchased masks and water to make sure they stayed hydrated during the 90+ degree weather and could breathe throughout all the drywall dust.
— The guys admitted that they didn’t KNOW HOW to mud and tape. Therefore the project hit a standstill.
— Eventually after threatening Jim w/​a lawsuit he showed up to do SOME work.
— The project WAS NEVER finished.
— Only 40% of the project was completed.
— We paid for 50% plus of the project.
–The work that was done, looked atrocious and highly unprofessional.
— Taping was peeling off the walls.
— The mudding was uneven and chunky.
— My floor was ruined due to their lack of laying tarps of the Rosin paper provided.
The CONCLUSION
— I sent Jim an email asking when he intended to complete the job. He NEVER replied.
— I saw him a few weeks or months later shopping at the local Wal-​mart with his wife and child. He had the audacity to say hi… and I got caught off guard and glared.
— We hired union dry wallers to finish the project.
— We missed a 1.5 weeks from work.
— We were contacted by one of his workers asking why we didn’t pay Jim for the work that had been done. After we told said worker that we cut Jim a check before the work began, he was astonished. He stated that Jim told all the workers that we never paid anything and that they wouldn’t get paid. Such a blatant and vicious lie.
— Jim accused us of taking a tool that one of his workers actually removed from our home due to non-​payment.
— That same worker stated that Jim regularly skips out on jobs and doesn’t complete them!
There’s so much more I could say, like the fact that they tripped our electric numerous times without telling us an we lost all of our groceries or Jim stating via email that he recorded our in-​person conversations (for what purpose, I have no idea). Everything that happened to us is a direct result of not dealing with professionals and not doing our homework.
This review will later be followed up with a complaint to the BBB. No homeowner should EVER go through this. EVER. Please beware. Learn from my awful mistake. J&J Home Restorations will borderline destroy your faith in the contractor industry.