Complaint Review: Arturo Sanchez

Introduced to Arturo Sanchez through a remodeling job gone bad.  The project was a significant kitchen/living room along with outdoor space remodel and ultimately left in state of disrepair throughout the process.    Arturo was one of the sub contractors.   After losing thousands of dollars to General Contractor, we were desperate and at the time Arturo seemed like our best option to finish project.    Initially, the agreement with Arturo was to finish interior remodel  At first, project was moving along. Later, when discussing the bids from other contractors to finish outdoor work Arturo offered to that as well.   Ultimately, we had 2 contracts with Arturo one to finish interior and the another to finish exterior.   

Predictably, he mismanaged the job and ran out of money to complete.  Our only option to move the project forward was to accelerate payments in advance of completion landmarks outlined in the contract.   There were numerous red flags we should have heeded.   Showing up late if at all, leaving early.  Numerous excuses (car broke down, other client did not pay them, the team has the flu, etc. etc.)  When they did work, quality was very suspect and the mess they would leave laughable not even bothering to throw away their lunch, drinks, etc.  

Ultimately, they did not finish the interior and stopped coming.  At this point, my house is in dissrepair and my wife understandably upset.  I ended up finishing the painting of cabinets, doors, walls, sealing the flooring (we paid to have ceramic flooring done only to have him later claim sealing was not part of the bid), tons of finish work (trim, borders, clean-up, clean-up and more clean-up).  They placed sheetrock on the ground and used that to stand on while cleaning their tools.  At the end of the job, I had to peel back the sheetwork off all of my dead grass.  Throughout the process, the lack of professionalism should have been our biggest red flag.  

The outdoor work was never done.   In a very weak moment, I agreed to pay in full the cost upfront.  Arturo was apparently in the midst of a custody battle with his grandkids and begged us to advance the money so he could hire a lawyer.  One might ask how could you continue to fall for dishonest contractors.  When your caught in the moment, desparation seeps in making you way too vulnerable.  All I wanted was to finish the project so my family could get back to some degree of normalcy.  Now, we have spent the past several months trying to recover our money.   I have numerous texts promising to do the work, pay us back, etc.   We're just a middle class family who leveraged all of their equity for a once in a lifetime remodel that proved to be the worst experience in my life. 

My hope is that no one else has to endure what we went through.   Fortunately, for me I have a strong family that supports me regardless of the mistakes I made in this very difficult process.  I can certainly see how something like this can break an otherwise strong household.  How people can do this to others is beyond me.  

Do not trust Arturo Sanchez