A roofer from Colorado that my son and I met on a fishing trip in Port Aransas recommended Mr. Bill Van Horn as someone that was honest and whom I could hire to replace my roof and fence as well as remodel my home in Grapevine, TX.
I signed a contract with Mr. Van Horn on 8/7/2018 that I would pay him one-third of the money upfront and then pay in increments as the work was completed. My daughter and I had a considerable amount of work to be done to get my house in shape so that I could retire and Mr. Van Horn assured us that he had been in the business for 27 years and had workers that were family men and had worked for him all of those years. We were dumb enough to believe him, so I turned over the first check and signed a contract.
Mr. Van Horn replaced the roof and fence right away, so I was impressed because it was done so quickly. He asked me to make out a wish list of all of the things I wanted done that were not in the contract, saying that if any money was left over after the agreed to repairs, then I could pick what I wanted done. By this, he gained my confidence and I believed him to be honest. He is a smooth talker and can convince you of anything.
Also, Mr. Van Horn told us that our roof had a 25 year warranty. We repeatedly asked him for the warranty number and he would not give it to us. He said he would give it to us but never did. My daughter called the roof company and they said that they had to have the warranty number or we were not protected.
Mr. Van Horn then started pressuring me for more and more money. He said he did not have the money to pay his workers and that he could not finish the jobs he had started unless I gave him more money. He got three checks and finally, the last check for the full amount of $65,000.00. That is when things started to go bad and he would not show up for work for weeks at a time.
He hired a man to tile our floors but the tiles were loose, uneven and hollow sounding. My daughter had the tile company come out to see what the problem was since we bought the tile from them. They advised that the tile was not laid properly, lacking thin set coverage on the backs of the tile. They advised that the tile would have to be removed and redone completely. Also, the wrong trowell was used in the process. Industry standards require 95% coverage on the back of the tiles and they had 0% coverage.
Mr. Van Horn said he got into a fight in our front yard with the tile worker. Mr. Van Horn said the worker hit him on the arm with a hammer because Mr. Van Horn refused to pay him. The police were called to our home. I was at work at the time, but my daughter was present. Quite embarassing for the our nice neighborhood to have this going on in our front yard.
Mr. Van Horn then had another tile man come out and they replaced the tile in two bedrooms, the living room and the hall, but not in the master bedroom or bathrooms. Also, instead of replacing the rotten wood on the eaves of my house as stated in the contract, he had his workers merely paint over everything. He installed brown gutters on our white eaves and then attempted to spray paint the brown ones white, but the spray paint did not fully cover the brown. Also, the gutters are sagging and falling down in the centers.
The workers that Mr. Van Horn hired used our ladders and step ladders without our permission to paint. They spilled paint all over the floors, ladders and ruined everything. Outside, they carelessly broke my two garden angel statues and a rabbit statue beyond repair. They all had to be thrown out as well as the planters and pots that had paint spilled on them. Just sloppy shoddy work. The interior walls were painted without regard to filling holes or removing picture hangers, they merely painted over everything and left it!
Finally, Mr. Van Horn and his workers quit coming to do any repairs or remodels. My daughter and I would call him every morning and he always have an excuse and that they will be there tomorrow. He would first say that his crew was on the way over here and he "promised" they would be here in 30 minutes. When they did not show up in 3 hours, we would call him and he would say, "Really? Well, I'll have to call and see what's wrong." This went on through Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Finally, in February, I was facing surgery and my daughter and I found ourselves living out of boxes because we had to clear all of the rooms to be remodeled. Bill had an excuse every day. He showed up only once and he was driving a brand new Infiniti. This was in early MAR and we have not seen him since then.
Also, Bill Van Horn dumped all of his garbage in my front and backyard. He finally had the front yard garbage removed but not the back yard. He kept promising he would have it done but never did. We had to pay again to have some of this garbage removed so that the lawn man could get his mower into the back yard. We are still left with a pile of Bill's refuse that he had his workers dump there.
In MAR, the city inspector came out and told me that my roof did not pass inspection nor did the fence that Mr. Van Horn installed. We were told that Bill did not bother to pull any permits which left me open for a fine from the city.
It is now APR, almost MAY, the two bathrooms are not fixed. Mr. Van Horn had previously torn out the walls and floor of our master bath and the plumbing is sticking up through the cement. He did tile the shower but the glass shower door, two commodes and the expensive walk-in tub that he had us pay an additional $2000 for were never delivered by Mr. Van Horn. despite my calling and demanding that he deliver those items to us, he kept saying, "Yeah, they're right here. I'll get them to you." Also, the ceiling of the bathroom is open and you can see into the attic. This ran up our heating and cooling bills considerably. We have been using the half bath in the back room. Mr. Van Horn took a saw and sawed off the PVC pipe vent that goes from the main drain to the roof and he told me that we did not need it, so he was sawing it off.
Mr. Van Horn has scammed us out of $65,000.00, torn up our house and left us with a garage dump in our backyard. He has made it so that I cannot retire and my daughter and I will be out thousands of dollars to repair the mess he has created.
This is so unfair! I am told that the BBB, the police and the Atty Gen'l office can do nothing to help me get some of my money back. Other states require contractors to be licensed, but for some strange reason, Texas does not!!!!
Yesterday, I turned on the water in the shower that Mr. Van Horn had tiled, only to find that he had GLUED the water regulator fixture to the tile and we can only get cold water because the handle will not turn. There were two holes for the screws, but he chose to glue it on!!!
I am convinced that this man is a crook and a "Traveller." I believe that he has cheated other people out of their money as well. I had no idea of what I was getting into when we signed a contract with Mr. Van Horn. We called the police and they came out and said there was nothing they could do. I filed with the BBB, the Texas Attorney General's office, the Dept of Consumer Affairs, and have posted on our neighborhood watch to warn my neighbors not to hire this person. I do not know what else to do since he will not answer any emails or calls. wish I could follow this man and warn others about him before they give him any money.
We have found that ALL of the work done by Mr. Van Horn is shoddy and cannot pass inspection.
Meanwhile, nothing has been touched since Thanksgiving, I am unable to retire because I must make enough money to pay for repairs to the work done by Mr. Van Horn. I am 71 years old.
Bill Van Horn Reviews
A roofer from Colorado that my son and I met on a fishing trip in Port Aransas recommended Mr. Bill Van Horn as someone that was honest and whom I could hire to replace my roof and fence as well as remodel my home in Grapevine, TX.
I signed a contract with Mr. Van Horn on 8/7/2018 that I would pay him one-third of the money upfront and then pay in increments as the work was completed. My daughter and I had a considerable amount of work to be done to get my house in shape so that I could retire and Mr. Van Horn assured us that he had been in the business for 27 years and had workers that were family men and had worked for him all of those years. We were dumb enough to believe him, so I turned over the first check and signed a contract.
Mr. Van Horn replaced the roof and fence right away, so I was impressed because it was done so quickly. He asked me to make out a wish list of all of the things I wanted done that were not in the contract, saying that if any money was left over after the agreed to repairs, then I could pick what I wanted done. By this, he gained my confidence and I believed him to be honest. He is a smooth talker and can convince you of anything.
Also, Mr. Van Horn told us that our roof had a 25 year warranty. We repeatedly asked him for the warranty number and he would not give it to us. He said he would give it to us but never did. My daughter called the roof company and they said that they had to have the warranty number or we were not protected.
Mr. Van Horn then started pressuring me for more and more money. He said he did not have the money to pay his workers and that he could not finish the jobs he had started unless I gave him more money. He got three checks and finally, the last check for the full amount of $65,000.00. That is when things started to go bad and he would not show up for work for weeks at a time.
He hired a man to tile our floors but the tiles were loose, uneven and hollow sounding. My daughter had the tile company come out to see what the problem was since we bought the tile from them. They advised that the tile was not laid properly, lacking thin set coverage on the backs of the tile. They advised that the tile would have to be removed and redone completely. Also, the wrong trowell was used in the process. Industry standards require 95% coverage on the back of the tiles and they had 0% coverage.
Mr. Van Horn said he got into a fight in our front yard with the tile worker. Mr. Van Horn said the worker hit him on the arm with a hammer because Mr. Van Horn refused to pay him. The police were called to our home. I was at work at the time, but my daughter was present. Quite embarassing for the our nice neighborhood to have this going on in our front yard.
Mr. Van Horn then had another tile man come out and they replaced the tile in two bedrooms, the living room and the hall, but not in the master bedroom or bathrooms. Also, instead of replacing the rotten wood on the eaves of my house as stated in the contract, he had his workers merely paint over everything. He installed brown gutters on our white eaves and then attempted to spray paint the brown ones white, but the spray paint did not fully cover the brown. Also, the gutters are sagging and falling down in the centers.
The workers that Mr. Van Horn hired used our ladders and step ladders without our permission to paint. They spilled paint all over the floors, ladders and ruined everything. Outside, they carelessly broke my two garden angel statues and a rabbit statue beyond repair. They all had to be thrown out as well as the planters and pots that had paint spilled on them. Just sloppy shoddy work. The interior walls were painted without regard to filling holes or removing picture hangers, they merely painted over everything and left it!
Finally, Mr. Van Horn and his workers quit coming to do any repairs or remodels. My daughter and I would call him every morning and he always have an excuse and that they will be there tomorrow. He would first say that his crew was on the way over here and he "promised" they would be here in 30 minutes. When they did not show up in 3 hours, we would call him and he would say, "Really? Well, I'll have to call and see what's wrong." This went on through Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Finally, in February, I was facing surgery and my daughter and I found ourselves living out of boxes because we had to clear all of the rooms to be remodeled. Bill had an excuse every day. He showed up only once and he was driving a brand new Infiniti. This was in early MAR and we have not seen him since then.
Also, Bill Van Horn dumped all of his garbage in my front and backyard. He finally had the front yard garbage removed but not the back yard. He kept promising he would have it done but never did. We had to pay again to have some of this garbage removed so that the lawn man could get his mower into the back yard. We are still left with a pile of Bill's refuse that he had his workers dump there.
In MAR, the city inspector came out and told me that my roof did not pass inspection nor did the fence that Mr. Van Horn installed. We were told that Bill did not bother to pull any permits which left me open for a fine from the city.
It is now APR, almost MAY, the two bathrooms are not fixed. Mr. Van Horn had previously torn out the walls and floor of our master bath and the plumbing is sticking up through the cement. He did tile the shower but the glass shower door, two commodes and the expensive walk-in tub that he had us pay an additional $2000 for were never delivered by Mr. Van Horn. despite my calling and demanding that he deliver those items to us, he kept saying, "Yeah, they're right here. I'll get them to you." Also, the ceiling of the bathroom is open and you can see into the attic. This ran up our heating and cooling bills considerably. We have been using the half bath in the back room. Mr. Van Horn took a saw and sawed off the PVC pipe vent that goes from the main drain to the roof and he told me that we did not need it, so he was sawing it off.
Mr. Van Horn has scammed us out of $65,000.00, torn up our house and left us with a garage dump in our backyard. He has made it so that I cannot retire and my daughter and I will be out thousands of dollars to repair the mess he has created.
This is so unfair! I am told that the BBB, the police and the Atty Gen'l office can do nothing to help me get some of my money back. Other states require contractors to be licensed, but for some strange reason, Texas does not!!!!
Yesterday, I turned on the water in the shower that Mr. Van Horn had tiled, only to find that he had GLUED the water regulator fixture to the tile and we can only get cold water because the handle will not turn. There were two holes for the screws, but he chose to glue it on!!!
I am convinced that this man is a crook and a "Traveller." I believe that he has cheated other people out of their money as well. I had no idea of what I was getting into when we signed a contract with Mr. Van Horn. We called the police and they came out and said there was nothing they could do. I filed with the BBB, the Texas Attorney General's office, the Dept of Consumer Affairs, and have posted on our neighborhood watch to warn my neighbors not to hire this person. I do not know what else to do since he will not answer any emails or calls. wish I could follow this man and warn others about him before they give him any money.
We have found that ALL of the work done by Mr. Van Horn is shoddy and cannot pass inspection.
Meanwhile, nothing has been touched since Thanksgiving, I am unable to retire because I must make enough money to pay for repairs to the work done by Mr. Van Horn. I am 71 years old.