Complaint Review: Property Masters

I strongly discourage anyone from working as a sub-contractor for this establishment! I am a painter. My crew and I have completed numerous projects for Property Masters throughout the state of Kentucky. The pay was always less than exceptional, but the work was steady. My last completed project was the breaking point for me. I was instructed to do numerous repairs on a home caused by an inexperienced and unprofessional carpet installation crew. The damage consisted of multiple scrapes, scratches and holes to the walls, immense damage to the baseboards, trim, and doors, scrapes and damage to the ceiling, numerous areas where floor mastic had been transferred to the walls that required sanding and skimming to repair, as well as a garage full of trash, including carpet remnants that had been discarded and not removed by the previous workers. Six doors also had to be shaved a quarter of an inch, and six sliding closet doors had to be re-installed and the tracks adjusted. The carpet crew had neglected to cut out the vent holes and replace the vent covers, so we were asked to correct that as well. I have dozens of photographs of all of the damage as well as the trash. I was told by the contractor that this job had to be completed ASAP and that it would pay out the following Friday (Oct 10th) due to the emergency of the situation.  I accepted the job. My crew and I worked for fourteen straight hours to complete the repairs. The job was completed on October 3rd. I was contacted by the contractor on October 6th, who informed me that Property Masters was refusing to pay unless I submitted an itemized list of the repairs and what I charged for each item. I immediately submitted this list along with 31 pictures of the damages which totaled $861.40. (This is a beyond reasonable price considering the depth and amount of damage) The day before I was due to be paid, I was contacted by the contractor and informed that I would not be compensated until the 17th, and that Jose Valdez, a project manager for Property Masters had decided that I would only be paid $715.00 for the already completed work. The contractor could not give me any explanation for the $146.40 deduction in my compensation. I then contacted Property Masters payroll department. I spoke to a woman named Colleen, who advised me to speak with Jose Valdez. I called Mr Valdez, who quite rudely informed me that he was not obligated to discuss his decision with me because I am "just a sub-contractor". I then contacted Jack Stevens who is a Regional Field Operations Manager for Property Masters. He advised me that he had approved my invoice and was unaware that any deduction had been made. Mr Stevens instructed me to send a copy of the itemized invoice along with the photos to his email, and assured me that he would handle the situation. I forwarded the list and pics to Mr Stevens on the 15th. The contractor called on the 16th to inform me that I was not going to get paid the next day, and that  my compensation for the work would not be received,  until October 24th, (21 days after the completion of the project!) I have attempted numerous times to contact Mr Stevens since, via phone and email, and have gotten no answer nor response. I am left to assume that Mr Valdez simply padded his own pocket with my hard-earned money, since he "isn't obligated" to explain why he took it. I must also assume that this type of unethical practice is condoned by Property Masters, since no one is willing to explain why $146.40 of hard earned money has been stolen from me. This might not be a lot of money to some people, but for me, it is! Now, it is cash that I must pull out of my own pocket to pay those who work for me, and unlike Property Masters, I compensate my employees for a job well done.