Business ProfileforLuis Pitones Construction, Inc.

This owner refused to give me an estimate for the cost, duration for completion of the work and did not provide a contract at stated by law if a job exceeds $500. He informed me that he charged by the hour and that his hourly rate was to be the same for all his employees. He proceeded to show samples of his work and emphasized that he was a general contractor with much experience in the construction of stone hard scapes. In my ignorance I assumed he was or had subcontracted a licensed stone mason which would justify the cost of $65 per person per hour. I expected these men to be professional and to have had much experience and to perform the work expediently. After 3 weeks I observed that the job was performed very slowly by relatively inexperienced men. He had one foreman in charge who appeared to be supervising the work an apparently was experienced. On the 4th week the wall was not completed so I terminated his employment. I had a licensed mason come to review what was performed and he found several errors. His estimate for the work was approximately 1/3 the cost that this contractor expected (including materials, I provided the stone for this job). I have no doubt his employees had little experience in this type of work, often seeing them standing and just conversing, taking their time. He assured me that if I hired more workers he would have the work completed in a timely fashion which was not the case. After investigation I found that he has no employees listed within his company and was unable to contact his insurance company to verify his coverage. I encourage anyone dealing with this company to do due diligence. Fortunately I requested weekly billing so that I could evaluate the amount of work performed with the cost. After the first week, with little progress I agreed to hire more men expecting the work to be completed in half the time. He stopped providing weekly invoices. Please do not hire this man.