Complaint Review: John Belew DBA J & J Construction Services

In May of 2016 I entered into an agreement with John Belew, DBA J & J Construction Services, to perform several home maintenance and improvement projects at my home. Before all the work was completed I fired Mr. Belew because so many of the sub-contractors were subpar. My front door was ruined and had to be replaced. Painting of the exterior was done improperly  and had to be redone. Garage door was taken off the hinges and not put back up properly and has not worked right ever since. Flashing that was supposed to be replaced was painted over instead (and only when I brought it to his attention). He gave my housekey to subs after I asked him not to and he promised he would not. ( I was subsequently robbed shortly after, although no suspect was ever arrested). Plus, his painting subs were very disrespectful to me when I caught them cutting corners and not doing the job as Mr. Belew instruted them in my presence. And, finally, the pointing up of cracks in the exterior bricks failed and began to crumble after the first rain. It is the brick work that this complaint is really about.

As soon as I noticed the mortar between the bricks was crumbling and cracking (approximately 2 months after the work was done) I contacted Mr. Belew and sent him photos of the failed brickwork via phone text, and he said he would send a man over to correct it. He never did. I called him several times and he said he would take care of it. After not getting a response I personally gave him an envelope with 8x10 photos of the problem areas on the bricks in front of witnesses at an Elks Loge 71 meeting where we both are members. The letter contained a respectful letter asking for a refund of the $1000 paid for that part fo the job. After 2 weeks with no response I called him and he said he had not had time to look at the photos. He was contacted again about 3 weeks later and he said he was done with me and has no intention of fixing the problem or refunding the $1000 and I could get a lawer to do whatever I wanted about this.

The really sad thing about this whole affair is that Mr. Belew and I were both members of the Benevolent Order of the Elks, Elks Lodge 71 in Dallas, TX, which is a charitable fraternal organization with a stated clause that Elks respect and support each other. I have resigned form the Lodge because of this and other unrelated incidents that convinced me that this Lodge does not hold true to its own mission. I chose Mr Belew for this job mainly becasue I felt a fellow Elk would not cheat me. I was wrong.