Complaint Review: Expert Mold Removal

Initially, we hired Expert Mold Removal to repair water damage from an overflowing toilet on the second floor of our home.  Prior to starting the work, we removed the flooring in the second floor bathroom, and discovered that there was severe rot around the shower stall in the same bathroom.   The flooring around the shower enclosure was wet, black and left a strong moldy smell.  Our insurance company was contacted and an adjuster came to survey the damage.  Expert Mold Removal walked off the job without completing the work.

The work with Expert Mold Removal, led by contractor Roger Lewis, seemed to be going smoothly at least, in the first few days.  Roger was not the person completing the work.  The work was being done by his young employee, named Justin who was not licensed, but always on the job site.  Roger would appear from time to time, spend several minutes looking over the work and leave.  Several days into the project, my husband began asking questions related to the specifications of our contract.  Our contract stated that the toilet would be removed and reinstalled, along with 10 square feet of flooring around it.  In addition, the framing was to be “sanitized,” both upstairs and downstairs (at a cost of $300) – none of which occurred.  When my husband began asking Justin about whether or not these details would be completed, he became visibly upset.  At that point, my husband stated that he would deal directly with Roger.   

Due to the fact that this was a second floor bathroom with plywood as a subfloor, we wanted cement board laid prior to the installation of tile flooring.  Roger was in agreement and quoted us a figure of an additional $100 to lay that cement board prior to installing tile, as we had already purchased all of the materials they would need for the job.  As soon as Roger relayed that message to Justin via the phone, you could hear yelling upstairs, “…they want what?!  That’s crazy!  They don’t need that…” 

In any event, rather than starting with the flooring and working their way up, they began by installing a shower and working their way down.  Several days before they walked off the job, we noticed that although the shower enclosure had been put up, there was still rot remaining behind the shower wall, not to mention the rotted subfloor surrounding the shower had not been replaced as well.  

Two days after we shared our frustration with Expert Mold Removal, they cut out a 4 x 8 section of drywall behind the shower stall, which connects to a different room to examine the damage and then walked off the job, leaving us with the initial problem they were to take care of in the first place – black, wet, rotted wood surrounding the shower. 

Expert Mold Removal, led by Roger Lewis walked off the job, they left us with a 4 x 8 hole behind the shower stall, a shower that did not have the shower door installed, bathroom and shower fixtures that were separated from the wall, a ceiling light that was hanging by its electrical wires, closet doors that were not reattached and the worst of it all, rotted wood that remained behind the “new” shower enclosure they built and the bare, rotted subfloor that surround the shower in the first place.  The very problem we needed rectified was not taken care of.  We have rotted wood behind our new shower and a bare rotted subfloor, with a hole in it, surrounding a new shower that is not fully functional.  Due to the rotted subfloor – there is no flooring in this second bathroom as well – just subfloor. 

Luckily, our insurance company records all phone conversations and has been supportive of our efforts to restore this bathroom back to working order.  Our insurance company has recorded all phone conversations and has Roger admitting on tape, that rot remains behind the shower wall.  We have paid Expert Mold Removal a total of $1,162.50.  The initial problem of repairing the rotted wood surrounding the shower enclosure and around it remains.