Downtown Development Group, Bruno Inc Scaming Construction Company New Orleans Louisiana
This is a warning for anyone looking to HIRE or BE HIRED by Downtown Development Group also known as Bruno Inc.
Josh Bruno's basic game plan is to hire you with a contract stating you are 100% finacially responsible for finishing a job in a set amount of time. Now typically that is fine for most professionals that know how to manage their projects.
Here is the rub...he will get you to sign the contract...that states "an act of God" is not good enough of a reason to be delayed. Problem is NOT GOD it is Josh Bruno. He will stack the individual crews to interfere with your project. Making the deadline impossible to reach when his site is so poorly organized. He will play games of who is responsible for material being dropped off at the site to go about your day. So after 3 hours to 3 weeks of waiting for the project to be ready for you then you are already in violation of the contract and the job is now COSTING you money instead of making you money because according to the contract you will be fined.
I realized this was typical of their company after 2 months of going back and forth to the site to TRY to get a job done. Of the 2 months there were only 2 WORKABLE days. I pressure washed the Exterior of the building once his Electricians were out of the way. He did not close up the soffit and had his insulation exposed. The front of the building was not even completely built up. WHILE I was caulking the cracks in the building he sent another crew to START cutting out holes for the windows....start not finish.
For the THIRD time I explained to him and his office that he needs to have alot of things finished before I can start. Painters are pretty much LAST on the site...not in the middle. I warned him about the motar joints being brittle and possibly having a wall cave in/fall out. He didnt care.
When we finially decided there was no way we could work with this company he REFUSED to pay for the work that was completed. So his game is to get you to work for a bit and place you in impossible conditions and charge YOU at the end of the project or you will realize you cannot work his site after you done some work and refuse to pay you since you didnt finish.
So he get its all done for EXTREAMLY little since the last contractors will have very little to do after all the original crews have already left and gone without their pay.
Smurf00912
Metairie, Louisiana
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Mike
New Orleans,Louisiana,
U.S.A.
Demanded Money, would not work with others, refused to work with in a system
#2UPDATE Employee
Mon, February 09, 2009
I am the development office of Downtown Development Group, and I was responsible for sourcing labor for the Saint Ann Project. I did come across Danie, and I did bring him in to meet with the GC and get a full scope of work in Dec '08. I requested, and was furnished with references and an estimate for the exterior painting. I also offered the interior painting (at a contract rate) to have him start work earlier. From the very beginning I was very upfront with Danie explaining that this was a low income project and that the trades would be stacked. All crews would be responsible for their work and maintaining a clean work space. All issues were to be brought to the GC (or myself to speed things up). Danie knew this as he called me at least 15 times a day, often to tell me his personal thoughts and feelings of proper job sites.
Danie had been to the site at least 3 times before he signed a contract, and he was fully aware (as I repeatedly told him) how busy the site would be. He fully read the contract, and even asked me specific questions relating to the timeline. The act of god clause he is referencing is in the contract, and it is noted in emails and on the contract in my hand writing that the exterior work was not on a critical path and any delays would almost certainly be approved with little documentation. No fines were levied on his contract, and no change orders were ever submitted from his company or self. Then in at the end of December and beginning of January, Danie stopped calling or returning my calls. I finally sent him an email to update his status and projected timeline or I would cancel the contract. Considering the project is a decent size, 44 unit complex that cover about 1/6 the washing of the building. Danie responded and we tried again to get him out there. The phone calls started again, and the other trades began to complain about the pre-madonna painter that kept pestering them. There were some heated emails to me (which is not procedure as I am a development and not a GC), and again I tried to quell the situation.
Now here is the other side of the story that Danie always seems to leave out. Danie started to demand 800$ for his 2 days of work for himself and his father. The draw schedule was clearly outline in the contract (Danie had a copy initialed, signed, and dated by both myself and him), and it specifically spell out a percentage of work down payment schedule. I pointed this out the Danie and he became erratic and boarder line threatening. He then demanding that he wanted a weekly draw of $1,300.00 or he would not finish the work. I again pointed to the contract signed and dated by him, and he hung up on me. Standard business practice would not give me reason to throw out a contract signed by an adult of sound mind anymore than to unreasonably with hold payment for finished work.
With Danie the work was not completed, not even for a draw. He then tried to get me to sympathize with him by saying he did not have money to put gas in his truck to work. Aside from the extreme inappropriateness and unprofessionalism of this comment, he was still demanding and threatening in asking for money that was not earned. We did not levy any fines against Danie, and I believe I went above and beyond professional in trying to deal with him. We did nothing legally or ethically wrong. I guess I just put Danie in over his head.