LB’s Remodeling & Renovations

When we bought a home we decided to try do a remodel at the same time so we could get some renovations we liked in the process. We did a FHA 203K loan and our HUD consultant recommended Larry Betterson, owner of LB’s Remodeling & Renovations, LLC. We met him, liked what he said and his bid was one of the lowest so we went with his company.
This was our first home, we know very little about home repair and remodeling and have never worked directly with a contractor before so there was a STEEP learning curve.
First, even though Larry at first reported he was available to start right away it took him about a month after the house was purchased for him to begin construction. During the construction process as well there were long gaps where him and his crew stopped working. In a 203K he was probably waiting at times to get paid by the bank, and at other times they may have had other projects going on. But, by the definition of the 203K the work should be completed in 6 months, which Larry went over. We also were renting while paying a mortgage during construction so every delay was financially very difficult for us.
During the process there was some communication breakdowns at times. Larry was usually available by phone but often did not fully read e-​mails we sent when we needed to send something more in detail or wanted to send links to certain items on a webpage (e.g. Home Depot). We certainly wanted to be involved in choosing details and in design but at times he went ahead and picked out things without us. Sometimes there were certainly financial restraints imposed by the type of loan we received but he did not communicate effectively about these.
A major issue came when we designed the kitchen. We gave Larry a basic plan we mocked up with a consultant at Lowe’s. However, thousands of dollars of cabinetry later… he misordered a few things and said that the custom cabinet company we ordered from would not accept returns. He blamed us for having a few measurements incorrect when one cabinet did not fit (though he never took measurements himself even though he’s the contractor?) and then also attempted to blame us for the misordering of another cabinet entirely even though it didn’t fit with what was on our list. I had to bring in the HUD consultant and his stubborn refusal to accept any responsibility resulted in a massive screaming match. Eventually this matter was sorted out without us paying more money, but he still never accepted any responsibility for his mistakes.
The final straw, and reason for this review is that we’ve had severe leaking from our kitchen and downstairs bathroom roofs every time it rains for 5 months since he finished construction including having paid him several thousands of dollar to reseal the roofs. Furthermore, when we did rewiring, an electrician he subcontracted did not put the correct cover on our new electric meter which resulted in PECO threatening to shut off our power.
I’m sure these issues come up and mistakes are made. But, again, it’s about his lack of responsibility. I’ve sent dozens of e-​mails and called him several times over the past 5 months and he only responded once to which we never heard back.
I have no personal issues with Larry. He is a nice person. His crew (about 4 people including his mother!) were also extremely, extremely nice people. There are times where he went out of his way to help us, such as meeting us on evenings or weekends to discuss how things were progressing. Overall, we are happy with how construction turned out and some details of the rehab were done quite well. And he was able to help us do some things we wanted on a budget. I’m certainly not saying his overall effort and that of his crew isn’t appreciated.
But, when you have a contractor that just finished your roof and redid your wiring… And you have severe leaks in your roof and an electric meter out of code… And that contractor has shown almost ZERO interest in taking ANY responsibility for these issues… You are thereby compelled to give him a 1 star review.