Handy Jack Solutions GC review (HJ solutions) by Ezra jack

[Mohammad Alabsy]

This is post I to help expose scam artists in the real estate industry. I hired HJ solutions as a general contractor for a job in he south suburb of Chicago. He said he can do everything (demo, patch, paint, porch, floors, bathroom tile and finishing basement) in 5 week time frame. He gave me a reasonable quote (not a very attractive quote but reasonable one). He sent his two guy crew to start the demo before he got any money. We met first day at the job and said he always gets 50% down payment for his projects. I said it's a big project and 50% seems too much to pay upfront. So I paid him 10%. His crew finished demo in couple of days (not a lot of demo. Just removing tile and carpet). Then he asked for more money. He said if you want thing done on time you should pay 33% of total. I had a trip overseas coming up so i decided to pay 33% (big chunk of money). I was overseas for about three weeks I came back and there is hardly any progress. The same two guys doing the demo were also painting (btw I bought the paint separately) I was wondering why it's taking this long. But Ezra jack was no where to be found. Even his two guy crew couldn't contact him for payment. So we finally got in touch with him and he said project will be completed on time even though most of the work needs to be done still. So I decided to give him two more weeks. So he brought an unlicensed electrician/Plummer to do some work. I was not happy with that and was not happy with the rookie inexperienced tile guy he brought to do the tile. I called and told him I'm paying him for licensed skilled workers but I'm not seeing any of that.. he couldn't argue with that he just got upset and pretended he did not know they were unlicensed (even though he told me before they have been working for him for years and he crew also confirmed that). Long story short. Got rid of the guy. Job was not close to 40% complete after five weeks when it's supposed to be 100% complete. Even the 40% they did was terrible. The paint job was very spotty with large areas in ceiling/bathrooms unpainted. One of his guys laid tile on top of wooden floor in laundry room and bathroom!!! (Bad idea, so I had to demo his work). During the demo some wood work was destroyed and ruined. 5 weeks basically for a half paint job and some demo. I was very upset I paid the guy hat kind of money upfront. On top of that they stole some stuff when they left the job site.. It's unfortunate to have people like that in his industry but they do exist and beginners have to really watch out for them. I'm trying to get some of my money back from this this guy.. I know some did have luck getting money back from scammers like that. Any help will be appreciated.