Our situation started back around the beginning of August 2014. Someone had inquired on a local Facebook group page called “Lakeway Swap” regarding references for someone to do some masonry work, when TheHandyman Keith LLC (aka: Keith Ryan Mallow) came up as a good reference. I had seen his info on previous requests for someone reliable, so I had sent the owner, Keith Mallow, a private message on Facebook requesting that we meet at my home to look at my project and to see if he could help and give us an estimate.
He came out around the 11th of August he was over our home for almost 2 hours, as we discussed the project at length and his ability to do the job. He sent us an initial invoice for the amount of $1744.59. This invoice was using the items I had already purchased from Bedrock Stone to complete the job. I had enough sand, type N motor and stone. When we told this to Keith back on his visit he didn’t seem to have any issues about it. He just asked if we could email him a picture of the stone so he knew what he was dealing with since it wasn’t delivered yet and he didn’t know what stone veneer we had. He also started inquiring about the type N mortar we were using and had me calling the manufacturer as well as Bedrock stone to confirm how to install the stone. After speaking with the manufacturer it was suggested that he would need to use metal lathe and tile mortar adhesive before using the type N mortar we had. And that would have increased costs. So Keith sent us another estimate.
This estimate was priced over $700 to cover the additional ½ days of labor and material expenses for the lath and mortar. But on the estimate what he did was deducted the mortar and added the wire. Which the wire lath was only $8 a sheet. In which he purchased 7. Materials were billed at $489.63 plus $40.39 tax for a total of $530.02. We didn’t think anything of it at the time. As Keith seemed to be an above board kinda guy. We trusted him and built some good rapport. So I emailed him back and told him he was hired. Keith told us he would be coming by to pick up a check for 50% of the invoice. He explained that the money collected would be used to offset the cost of supplies he needed to perform the job and have them ready when he started on Tuesday.
We paid him the requested 50% deposit $1239.26 via check. We asked Keith to not cash our check until August 29, 2014, which he agreed, as this allowed for funds from our bank to be transferred to cover the check. He cashed our check on August 28th, one day early. The invoice states that the job was to cover “Install veneer stone on two arches in front room as well as up center column of window divider, remove trim for these areas and cut to match new profile (customer is supplying all stone veneer to be installed)”. At that time he had explained the job would take a total of 4.5 days (as shown on the invoice) and he would start on Tuesday September 2, 2014 at 8am.
When he showed up on Tuesday at 9:15am, he went over the job again asking me where I wanted to put all the stone and said that today he would be removing the entire baseboard, put up the metal lathe and tomorrow there would be stone. That morning I had added an additional 40sq ft. of wall space in the hallway to the job. I left at around 10:30 and I received a text from Keith stating he had no lath materials on site to do the job and he left at 11:15am after he had torn out baseboard and chalked the walls on where to stop the stone. Nothing else was done on Tuesday.
Keith followed up with a text on Tuesday evening, that he would be arriving at our home on Wednesday at 7:30am to put up the wire mesh and start the stone. He arrived late again at 8:15am, and again left to get supplies within a few hours after. He was gone most of the day again and showed up to our home around 4:30ish saying he was going to complete the lath and then as only part of the hallway had any on it and would be starting stone on Thursday. Still lath was incomplete and no stone work at the end of day 2.
On Thursday, Keith showed up late morning and had stated he “left last night after being “frustrated” that the “lath wasn’t going up as he planned” He asked us about the construction of the home and stated that most arches do not have any 2x4 work in them. We showed him photos of the home under construction to prove otherwise and that there was the ability for the lath to stick to the studs in the walls. We asked what was going to be completed that day and was told again that the lath would be completed and stone would be installed today (he was insistent of that fact). He stayed on site for a couple hours, would leave again for a few hours and then came back around 3:30-3:45ish. After a brief conversation on another project I was working on, he went back and was working on the walls.
We had left around 6:30 that evening and Keith left shortly after around 7:15ish. (This according to our security system notifications) What we had by the end of the day was 4 stones put up in the hallway, one had already fallen off the wall, lath was still incomplete, and a disaster of a mess from my foyer to my butler’s pantry. He left with debris, and materials going from my foyer, dining room and blocking my hallway and side entrance. He left masonry tools to sit in mortar in buckets that had hardened in the driveway, tools scattered all over the floor, ladders up, air compressors plugged in. No safety concerns for my family and children to clean this area whatsoever before he left for the day.
We were at this point getting upset at what was told to us as a 4 ½ day job is now going on day 4 with nothing 100% complete and a mess in my home. We understand that this is not a clean job, but you can clean up the site each evening before he leaves and put away his tools so not to cause a danger to my children.
On Friday he never showed up so we texted him and asked him if he was going to come today, and hours passed. He finally texted back in the afternoon and said he had a “stomach virus” and would not be coming. Ok. We understand people get sick. Not a problem. But we had concerns regarding the job and also the mess left and we wanted to address this issue with Keith and asked him via text to call us when he could and that it was important. Blake wanted to have a phone call with him however was leaving on a trip to Barbados and only had FaceTime available to talk on the phone otherwise it was text messaging the majority of that weekend.
We tried consistently every day to call (leaving VM) or texting him to find out about the job situation. He didn’t show up for work on Monday or Tuesday and it wasn’t until Tuesday evening when we finally were able to speak with him. He never once told us he was sick on Monday or Tuesday until after we asked him where he was and why he wasn’t showing up. We tried to find out when he would be coming back out to finish the job, and never had any response other than he was too sick to contact us.
However, we did see that he wasn’t too sick to attend a UT game that Saturday afternoon with his sons that he tweeted about on his twitter account as well as admitting to Blake Reschke on the phone call they had on Thursday September 11th. It was also in this phone call Keith, admitted that it was “his bad”, and that it was “unprofessional” to leave our home like it was and not to communicate, however, it was “none of our business what he did on the weekends”. Which may be true, however if you have a situation where you leave a job, don’t communicate other than via text and don’t show up to work on Monday or Tuesday, yeah, I think it would be our business when we have given him our money to do a job that he hasn’t done.
It was also on this phone call we decided to fire him. We had enough of the lying, the unprofessionalism, and not adhering to the job at which we hired him for. Blake Reschke requested our money back at that time and requested receipts to show money spent on the materials he had used. Which was:
He had failed to complete the job on time as stated. We have found that he had consistently lied to us regarding his ability to complete this job. He failed to show up when he stated or perform a full day of work, as he would leave for the majority of the day. He failed to show up prepared with materials to perform his job. He failed to know how to properly perform installation of masonry stone. He left the job site (our home) unlivable in this area for over 3 weeks due to the mess he left behind and failed to clean up when he left on Thursday September 4th. He caused damage to our hardwood floors scratching them due to him not properly protecting the floors with proper materials that stone will not penetrate.
During that phone conversation Blake had with Keith, we were willing to pay the Plaintiff for 7 hours of work since he had told us that when he started he would have the lath completed on Tuesday. And since that wasn’t even close to being complete we knew a whole (8 hours) day worth of work was not in that job. So we offered him $350 for his time and if he would provide receipts we would pay him for materials. He stated he didn’t have any as he took the supplies from other jobs. That was our final offer.
When we went to do a contractor check on his license since he collected tax with the State of Texas the Comptroller’s office did not find his business. And stated that when estimating a job it is against Texas law to charge taxes on labor and materials when estimated separately and that we only were responsible for paying the taxes on the materials. You will see when we explained how he was breaking the law the Plaintiff changed it on his third invoice. The Texas comptroller’s office had no record of his business on file, as to collect taxes you are required by the state to have a resale license. They also checked his business with the Secretary of States office and he also does not have one on file there as well. Its listed with the SOS office as Forfeited existence below are his SOS and his Tax ID numbers:
Filing Status | Forfeited existence |
SoS ID | 0801600061 |
Tax ID | 32048021730 |
We emailed/Texted Keith to make him aware of the issues we had, that he was fired and that we were again requesting our money in writing asking for our money back by Noon on that Friday. If he was unable to do so we would be filing complaints and taking him to small claims court.
Nowhere during this time was a request made by TheHandyman Keith to pick up his tools. It wasn’t until September 18th that we had an email from him telling us we were “holding his tools hostage” and we clearly explained to him that we had requested our money back. We had never told him he could not have his tools back. As it was clearly explained to him that what he did stated he was going to do in the invoice was not what he did and we were owed our money back for what he didn’t accomplish.
After this email was sent to the Plaintiff he decided to go and file this complaint with the court and waste your time. Because as soon as this was filed he proceeded to contact the Travis County Sheriff Office and had Deputy Keith Kimmard #1124 show up to our home at 3pm requesting the removal of his tools. Which Blake Reschke and Deputy Kimmard helped hand over to the Plaintiff. Deputy Kimmard was an immense help to us, letting us know how to proceed to get our money back from the Plaintiff. He saw the damage that was made and the state of the room and how he left our home. Deputy Kimmard also told us to go and to write The Handyman Keith LLC a certified letter “demanding” our money back, since nothing beforehand had said those words. We did that as well and as of filing today the certified letter has not been picked up by the Plaintiff. I have also submitted to the court the letter that was sent to him.
Due to the Plaintiff, we have also had to seek other professional assistance to ensure proper installation of the stone, and to finish the job TheHandyman Keith failed to complete on time and properly as stated. This additional work that the new contractors had to do cost us more money to finish since it was not done properly and the 4 stones he had up were falling off the wall and improperly put on. We also asked Cesar Beltran, owner of Blue Agave Landscapes to write an estimate of the work that was performed by TheHandyman Keith. What his company would have charged for this work to be done. His price was $250 including the material and labor.
When we sued him in Travis County Precinct three Small Claims court The Honorable Judge Steeg had set judgement in our favor in the amount of $1339.23 as damages plus we are alllowed court costs, post judegment interest at a rate of 5% that he has again failed to pay. Court cause number is j3-cv-14-058078 We have emailed him requesting payment and have received no payment nor any communication that he has shown that he will be settling the payment that is owed to us.