Business ProfileforWood and Iron by Wilder LLC

I hired ******* Wilder to add a media wall to *******. He was to start on February 13th, 2023. I chose a stacked stone wall. He assured me that he was able to do that wall and said that I needed to pay 1/2 up front for materials. He sent me a "contractors" contract to sign. I gave him a check for $2,600. He stopped responding to any texts or emails after I gave him the check. A different name was written in on my check and it was cashed. I received no communication from him after he cashed the check, until February 22nd. He said that he had some family issues that needed to be taken care of. I though about not moving forward with him, but he explained that he was going to start my job the next week and complete it by that Friday. He showed up late, didn't show up some days and didn't buy all the material with the money I paid him. The stone work looked bad and he kept telling me that he would have it all "cleaned up" at the end and it would look good. He brought his newborn and his girlfriend with him to clean the wall. The whole wall was a mess. Mortar was coming out everywhere between the stones, there were uneven stones placed and they were not straight. I kept asking him if it was going to look right and he assured me he would clean it up. As the week went on, my husband asked him about it and he said he was going to get some cleaner and they would clean it up. When we realized that the cleaner was doing nothing, I asked him not to come back. He is not a contractor and has a contractors exemption with the state stating that he won't take jobs more than $1,000.00. The contractor I hired to fix the wall had to demo the whole thing. The electrical was wrong, the space for the fireplace was cut wrong. The stone was laid wrong. I had to re-purchase all new material and pay for a new wall and the demo. I was out ***** paid to *******. I asked him for a refund and he wouldn't refund. I asked him to pay for the wall demo and he disappeared.