I had Carl build me a pond. It was supposed to take a month but took a year. I prepaid Carl for all of the filter equipment and later found that Carl never paid the manufacturers. Also most of the local contractors were not paid as well, some of them who I had done business with for a long time. So I paid Carl for their work plus his markup and then I paid some of them again because he did not.
They made many serious mistakes constructing the pond. I eventually had to get another crew in to jackhammer thru the concrete in 2 separate locations to fix the brain farts. The pond had dozens if not hundreds of leaks in the mortar which took Mary, myself and several of my workers many months to fix.
I found out after they arrived that I needed to pay Carl $30 a day for each employees food, sometimes as may as a dozen or more, and also provide motel rooms for them at $100 a nite per room. After a year that begins to add up.
I paid Carl every Friday. I always asked Carl to give me a detailed professional breakdown of the bill but he never had time and said he would work on it later. Later never came. Instead I got a bill scribbled on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper. Examples in front of me now from one week.
One Week Only and I quote:
Labor - $67,721.25
Food - $2460.00
Lodging - $4327.92
Materials - $49,699.60
Poly Spray - $59,400
One Week Total - $183,608.77 (Remember it took a freakin' year)
I couldn't believe that poly bill so I called the sprayer and asked. He gave me an explanation. A year later, the sprayer emailed me and wanted to clear the air. He told me that Carl told him to lie about the sq ft. Also he said he charged Carl $8 per sq ft and thought Carl was gonna charge me $8 plus 10% (our agreed markup) but later found out the Carl had actually charged me $14 plus 10% for a total of $15.60 per sq foot and lied about the sq ft. Then I find out also that Carl did not pay the sprayer
The salt in the wound was the first day the crew showed up. One of the workers brought a big aggressive dog that they let run around loose. Mary and I thought it was only going to be a month so we kept Sally inside while they were here. One time we let her outside to go to the rest room. She came back with a huge chunk of flesh taken out of her. One of Carls workers told me that the dog attacked Sally for no reason. That is when I told Carl if I ever see that dog on my property again I will shoot it and I might shoot you too.
When I decided to possibly file a judgement against Carl, I did a D & B and some financial background checks. I found out that he has judgements against him in excess of $5,000,000.00. That does not include all the local contractors and those that did not file.
He left Pa because the bank that he stuck for $2,800,000.00 is selling the property that they have a lein on. It is pennies on the scope of things.
There is a whole lot more but I think you get the idea.
Cliff Notes Version - I have done business with Carl Forss and Keiren Koi and it was not a pretty experience and the next time will be when
If anyone wants a copy of the financial reports, pm me.