Dollar Construction Nightmare

On October 19, I posted about my horrible experience with Dollar Construction (Hassan) (My checks were made out to Khaleda Yasmen). They walked off two jobs because the owners refused to pay anymore then the two-thirds we had already paid (15K) for work that was only halfway finished. (The other house is owned by my brother-in-law and is unoccupied). At the time, the projects were going into the 9th week. Workers wouldn’t show up for days at a time, and when they did show up, they accomplished very little, and the quality of the work was not very good. I should point out that the contract stated that the work would be finished within a month and that the payment terms were half in the beginning, and half when completed. (Yes, I was foolish to give him more money) Also, the scope of the work did not change at all from what was written in the contract. Except we did want some exterior moldings around the windows, which we agreed to pay an extra $1000 dollars for (and was also was not completed).

Well, after my post, Hassan said that he would finish the work; however, “someone” told him that someone had posted a negative comment on a web site and he wanted it removed. I said that I would not remove the comment because it was 100 percent true and it could have been a lot more descriptive about the problems and delays we had experienced. I asked him to just please finish the work. I still would not be happy, but I would pay him the rest of the money. The overall delay itself didn’t bother me as much as the fact that no progress at all was taking place. He said that he would come to work the next day, and the work would be finished in a week.

Surprise, a week later, nothing on my house was done, and very little progress on the other house. Of course there were more Muslim holidays (Monday and Tuesday last week), but no other explanation for no workers. Last straw, on Thursday night (10/26), Hassan said he would have two teams of people working on the houses Friday morning at 9 AM. At 10 AM the next morning no one had showed up, and at 1130 one person was at the other house sweeping. I told the worker that I was not mad at him, but please leave, and I called a locksmith to change the locks on both houses.

I then called Hassan to tell him to take his F-ing scaffold off my house before I ripped it down and cut it into little pieces. Hassan ‘s brother knocked on my door and said workers were coming to take the scaffolding. I took photographs of Hassan’s brother, his vehicle, and registration while he stood outside. I made sure he saw me, and one minute later he was gone.

Friday night we noticed a car parked across the street, up the block, with the lights off and three people inside. While my brother-in-law was walking to our house, he told me that he thought he saw Hassan in the back seat of the car. I thought he was joking. I took photographs of the car from the window. Then we started walking toward the car. The car started, and sped pasts us.

Saturday afternoon we noticed that a saw and some tools that were left in my brother-laws-house were no longer there. The backyard window was open, and I can only assume that Hassan’s people were watching the front of the house, while other folks went in from the back yard. (There is an alleyway behind the house.)

The next morning I even more foolishly risked my well-being, and took the scaffolding down, with my brother-in-law’s help. I was going to go to Home Depot and spend $400 on a heavy duty metal saw, and then I tried to call some scrap metal companies to come take the scaffolding, however, it was too late in the day. I was then going to rent a U-Haul to take the scaffolding to the dump myself on Monday.

In the end, I left a message for Hassan to take the scaffolding before I am able to get a salvage company to take it. I also wanted him to know that we knew he broke into my brother-in-law’s house, and we filed a police report. An hour later different workers showed up to take the scaffolding. I made sure to take pictures of them, and their vehicle. The main guy said he lent Hassan the scaffolding and he had nothing to do with Hassan’s business. We told him that he was full of crap, and we knew that Hassan broke into the house. He said (and I swear on my wife and mother’s lives that this is verbatim) “You have no proof, next time hire better contractors.”

I guess that sums it up. I apologize for the long post. It really could have been much longer with all the problems we had. Thank you for allowing me the time to vent.