I wrote this review on Angie's List, but for some reason the reviews are not aggregated under each listing so that Russ Construction appears to have an A rating under the first caegory of 'Kitchen & Bathroom' and my review/warning posted under 'Remodeling - General' is never seen. i am posting here to make sure that others who do their diligence are warned against hiring Russ Construction. The project was scheduled for July 2017, I fired Vlad in August, and finally he settled with my lawyer in November and I got most of my money back (total cost of project including change orders was ~$50K). It was tremendously stressful and I was out thousands of dollars in legal fees.
Vlad tried to scam me. It was difficult to find a contractor last summer and my preferred contractor was not available until December. Vlad presented a proposal that the other contractor said was "comprehensive", meaning on the high side, and all the online reviews that I found were good. Vlad was very respectful, listened to me, and never talked down when explaining my options. I trusted him. When they ripped up the top floor in the basement, there was a concrete pad underneath. Vlad then told me that I had two options: raise the floor by 8 inches (not acceptable to me!) or demo the concrete pad and remove a foot of dirt, creating a subfloor underneath. This work was quoted at $18K. I thought maybe the concrete was several feet deep to necessitate such a high price, but then I got suspicious when the demo was done in a single day. I brought in a contractor referred by friends who said that the work should have cost $4-5K. Moreover, the concrete pad didn't even have to be removed, and sleeper joists could have been installed in the sloping concrete pad instead. He says that by creating a crawlspace, the room is in worse condition because then it needs to be maintained. I then brought in a structural engineer to document all of the work performed, and he came up with a laundry list of things done incorrectly, the most egregious ones being that no permits were pulled, the concrete pad didn't need to be removed, and based on materials that Vlad had brought onsite, he only intended to use pressure-treated wood at concrete-contact points. The other beams would have been out of sight and slowly rotted over the years.
I hired a lawyer and fired Vlad. I paid the contractor to come up with a fair assessment of work that he should be compensated for. Vlad denied everything until I filed a CCB complaint (first step in filing a lawsuit), and was suddenly desperate to settle, probably because he was afraid of losing his license. Finally I got most of my money back in November and we cancelled the meeting with the CCB. Suffice to say that I had a terrible experience, and would recommend against hiring Russ Construction.
Russ Construction & Remodeling LLC Reviews
I wrote this review on Angie's List, but for some reason the reviews are not aggregated under each listing so that Russ Construction appears to have an A rating under the first caegory of 'Kitchen & Bathroom' and my review/warning posted under 'Remodeling - General' is never seen. i am posting here to make sure that others who do their diligence are warned against hiring Russ Construction. The project was scheduled for July 2017, I fired Vlad in August, and finally he settled with my lawyer in November and I got most of my money back (total cost of project including change orders was ~$50K). It was tremendously stressful and I was out thousands of dollars in legal fees.
Vlad tried to scam me. It was difficult to find a contractor last summer and my preferred contractor was not available until December. Vlad presented a proposal that the other contractor said was "comprehensive", meaning on the high side, and all the online reviews that I found were good. Vlad was very respectful, listened to me, and never talked down when explaining my options. I trusted him. When they ripped up the top floor in the basement, there was a concrete pad underneath. Vlad then told me that I had two options: raise the floor by 8 inches (not acceptable to me!) or demo the concrete pad and remove a foot of dirt, creating a subfloor underneath. This work was quoted at $18K. I thought maybe the concrete was several feet deep to necessitate such a high price, but then I got suspicious when the demo was done in a single day. I brought in a contractor referred by friends who said that the work should have cost $4-5K. Moreover, the concrete pad didn't even have to be removed, and sleeper joists could have been installed in the sloping concrete pad instead. He says that by creating a crawlspace, the room is in worse condition because then it needs to be maintained. I then brought in a structural engineer to document all of the work performed, and he came up with a laundry list of things done incorrectly, the most egregious ones being that no permits were pulled, the concrete pad didn't need to be removed, and based on materials that Vlad had brought onsite, he only intended to use pressure-treated wood at concrete-contact points. The other beams would have been out of sight and slowly rotted over the years.
I hired a lawyer and fired Vlad. I paid the contractor to come up with a fair assessment of work that he should be compensated for. Vlad denied everything until I filed a CCB complaint (first step in filing a lawsuit), and was suddenly desperate to settle, probably because he was afraid of losing his license. Finally I got most of my money back in November and we cancelled the meeting with the CCB. Suffice to say that I had a terrible experience, and would recommend against hiring Russ Construction.