Lou Martelli

Home Improvement

Everett, Massachusetts, 02149

Lou Martelli was recommended by a friend, once the contract was signed Lou dragged his feet on the project. He kept insisting he was waiting on other contractors (i.e plumbers, electricians) to continue his piece of the Kitchen renovation project. His original window for completing the project was extended several times. Each time he promised it would only take a few more weeks to complete, but would ask for more money. Several times he promised to show up at the job site, but failed to do so. This happened several times. When threatened with legal action, Lou would fire back stating that some of the previous house work was illegal and that he could report the home owner to the city to shut down the house. He lacked professionalism and never kept his word with anything that he promised. After the home owner told him to leave the job and never to comeback, Lou called one more time stating that the job would only take 3 more weeks. He also stated that he would finish the job if he was paid $3k more and that his Lawyer suggested that he be paid in advance before finishing the job.

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Lou 102727

Submitted: 11/08/2011

There are two sides to every story. This is Lou Martelli and I would like to tell my side now.
The home owner's name is Ruben - owner of Altor Decore on route 1, Saugus , MA. The scope of work to be done was to remove two walls (approx 16' X 10'), demo a bathroom, and renovate the kitchen. I was put in contact with Ruben thru one of his employees, who is a friend of mine. Ruben had already received several bids for this project, ranging from $50,000 - $60,000. When I went to look at the project I could not gain access to the second floor apartment, as his tenant was not home. I priced the job out at $19,300, and explained to the home owner that if any problems arose, there would be extra charges. At that time, I explained to Ruben that if either of those walls were bearing, it would be an additional $4,600 charge. Ruben and I came to an agreement, and signed a contract.
After starting the project I was able to gain access to the second floor apartment and found that there was a wall directly above one of the walls that were to be removed. Due to the span of this wall, the local building inspector wanted me to take the same steps as if it were a load-bearing wall (to prevent sagging). Ruben questioned the $4600 charge at this time, and I explained to him that we would see how the project progressed, and we would work it out along the way. On the second week on the job I showed up on Tuesday morning at approx. 6:45 AM, I rang the doorbell, and knocked for over an hour only to find out that Ruben had gone on vacation for a week, with all of my tools locked in the house. When he returned from vacation I asked why he did not give me prior notice to get my tools. He stated that he was afraid that I would not return as soon as he got back.
The next issue he and I had was an electrical issue. Apparently, the homeowner had done a lot of his own electrical work - a lot of the issues being code violations. The electrician gave Ruben a price to repair problems. This transaction was entirely between the electrician and Ruben. Ruben took a week to decide if he was going to have this work done - locking up my tools (once again) for a week. I called him and asked if I could get my tools while he made his decision. Once again, he said "No, I'm afraid you won't return right away".
During the demo of one of the walls, we found an old, non-functioning, three-story chimney that would have been in direct line of an island that I was to put in the kitchen rehab. I removed this chimney, and I only charged Ruben the cost of the brick disposal.
The next issue that we ran into was a plumbing problem - neither his kitchen, nor bathroom were vented - which is a MAJOR issue. To fix the problem, two walls in the basement had to be removed, then replaced. I agreed to do this work for no additional charge. Ruben, once agin shut down the job for ten days while he decided whether, or not to do this work. At this point, my framing was complete, but in order to get my framing inspection, the rough plumbing and electrical had to be inspected first. I received my rough plumbing inspection. The electrician called for his rough inspection on a Wednesday, and due to the fact that one of Malden's wiring inspectors was on vacation, they could not make it out to the job until the following Wednesday. Upon hearing this, Ruben (in a fit of anger) closed down the job. I tried to explain to him that I had no control over when an inspector came to the job. Approximately 1 1/2 weeks later I received a call from Ruben asking me if I would complete the project. I explained to him that I would have no problem coming back and finishing the job, and reminded him (per the contract), a $3000 payment was due upon completion of rough plumbing and electrical. Ruben refused to make this scheduled payment (again, per our contract), saying instead that he would pay me the remaining $8000 when the job was complete. Per our agreed-upon schedule, the balance was to be paid in 3 - 4 payments.
I would also like to add that I did approx. $6000 in extras for Ruben, and never received one penny in payment, also during the project, Ruben's daughter called me being verbally abusive. The second time was at 1:00 AM - I explained to her that I was a single parent and she had woken up my son, and that my contract was with her father, not her, and that she should have him call me. She called again, a few days later, and when I did not answer, she called my phone 38 times in a row!!!!

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