Sal's Complete Remoldeling Did poor work and did not finish the job after already being over paid. Houston Texas,
Salvador Ruiz of Sal's Complete Remodeling was hired for both interior and exterior work. Mr. Ruiz started the exterior work first of replacing rotted wood near the roof, replace 1 door frame, caulking, painting and sheetrock repair. During the process he continously asked to be paid for materials and was paid over $7000.
Mr. Ruiz used substardard materials, instead of completely replacing the rotted wood facing boards and door frame as orignially discussed, he tacked on wood peices, did sloppy caulking aroung the exterior of the house and use 1 coat of paint and did not finish the sheetrock repairs. I asked Mr. Ruiz to correct the issues, he began to constantly send harrassing messeages demanding more money, stating he had personal bills to pay. I reqested an Itemized statement from Mr. Ruiz but he would not comply, I asked him again to correct the issues I had with his poor workmanship and finish the job but he stated that he wanted to get paid first.
I asked Mr. Ruiz for a refund of $3,500.00 since he did not complete nor correct the poor exterior work, he has not complied.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Danny
Hallsville,Texas,
United States
Just an FYI for Hoemowners being ripped by a contractor
#2Consumer Suggestion
Sun, August 18, 2019
I myself here in North East Texas am a victim of a smooth talking contractor. One who took and swindled me out of mostof the funds alotted for the project that My wife and I had saved up for. These guys have no mercy when it comes to filling their pockets. My situation fortunately was in a sense unique yet in many ways familiar I am sure. What I did personally is to do my own research and the research took months to conduct and as I found out you do not want to rey solely on the law enforcement to investigate. Most Counties and local law enforements have limited resources and many other pressing investigations before they get to the bottom of your situation when it comes to shady contractors and contracts. You have to prove intent to commit fraud by the contractor before you can get the least response. Most District Attorneys just dont have the patients or funds to try a contractor in the court of law for the accusation of fraud. This is manily because in the state of Texas a contractor does not have to be licensed to operate. For that matter the law's lean more toward protecting the contractor than it does for protecting the Homeowner. I will not go into the details of my particular case which is pending, although I will tell you about a little known law, that the law enforcement and Contractors seem to over look and depending on your own situation it could very well open a whole new can of worms and it can help you trmendously to have a leg to stand own when dealing with a crooked contractor. Not only that it makes certain the contractor cannot just simply calim bankruptcy to get out of possibly payming you back for your loss. It follows the contractor personally and they are by law held accountable for their actions.
There is a law on the Texas books called " The Texas Construction Trust Fund Act" This Act essentially makes the homeowner a Beneficiary and the Contractor a Trustee. If the Homepwner and the contractor enter into a written agrement with the homeowner to conduct improvements to a residnetial homestead for an amount that exceeds $5000.00 The contractor has an obligation to the homeowner to take the funds to a financial institution and open up a construction account on that job and maintain records of where the moeny was allocated for that job and maintain the records and invoices. The law is clear and precise and if the contractor did not go down and do this automatically it is considered an intent to commit fraud to the homeowner. The only affirmative defense for the contractor in a court of law is that the contractor has 30 days to pay the homeowner back within 30 days of recieving a written notice of a criminal investigation. otherwise it is a 3rd degree felony. this carries a possible 2-10 years in jail and a $10,000 fine period dot. The contractor cannot up and file for backruptcy and open up under a different name and continue because it follows the owner of the business personally. I am not saying this applies to every situation but in mine it fit it to a tee. I hope this helps a fellow Texan to have a tool to fight back with against these crooks.