Complaint Review: Atrium Custom Homes - Winchester Massachusetts

We are also victims of Atrium Custom Homes and the deceptive practices of Eddy Jabre. After selling us a prefabricated unit that he was already paid for by another party, he hired unskilled workers to do the structural preparatory work. They often argued while reviewing the plans and appeared confused when trying to read blueprints. When we questioned Eddy Jabre regarding some of their workmanship, for example, a new door not hanging straight or closing properly, Eddy said I promise everything will be perfect before we leave. We did not want to be disagreeable for fear that he would walk off the job, but after months of delays, construction failures, and flooding, he stopped work anyway when we refused his demand to pay the balance of the contract even though he had only done 40% of the work and that all substandard. In the end, he walked off our job with 90% of the money and left us with a home that was uninhabitable, structurally unsafe, and not fit for occupancy, having failed coding compliance in all areas and being left open to the elements. The town inspectors were grieved for what he had done to our house. We almost lost our home.

He told us he was insured and provided a policy number, which I presumed was valid. When he left, I investigated the number and he had never sent any payment to enforce it. He insisted on payments before certain aspects of the project were completed, threatening to walk off the job and charge US for delaying the work, as he includes in his ridiculous contract. He caused damage to my existing structure, including several areas where his workers fell through sheet rock, and never repaired any of it, offering us plaster and paint to fix it ourselves. He used two or three cheap day laborers instead of a crew of skilled union carpenters. Instead of oak stairs, for which he charged us $4,000, he had them throw together pine runners, temporarily he said. They were not built to code regarding rise and tread, varying as much as two inches per step, and had inadequate head clearance. He put himself as the GC on our job when he had never been a GC before. He made numerous errors on the structural changes and then charged US to have the plans redrawn. We paid for his mistakes from the first to the last.

Eddy displays his educational credentials from France but he has NO United States certification or degree in architectural design or planning. He boasts on his web site of a spotless Better Business Bureau record, but we have become acquainted, though the disaster he caused us, with a number of people who have been to court with him for the same fraudulent and deceptive practices. People like us, who have suffered so great a loss, cannot appeal to the Better Business Bureau because court is our only recourse.

A bad contractor doesn't just mess up your home, he messes up your life. We had to find temporary living quarters. My son dressed for his senior prom while Eddy and his men were arguing over mistakes in remodel with sawdust flying all around.

Beware of Eddy Jabre of Atrium Custom Homes. He is a fraud, a thief, a liar, and a coward. I have no reason to believe his web site endorsements are real. I am telling the truth hoping to spare someone else from being his victim. If you are thinking of using Eddy Jabre of Atrium Custom Homes, check all his credentials, speak up when there are issues, and for sure, have your own attorney review his contract ours was a sham that basically says any time you disagree or change a plan or cause a delay in the work, HE can charge YOU.

Nomorejabre

Malden, Massachusetts

U.S.A.