Brook's Construction

Handyman Services
Real Estate - Development

Want a job done the way you want it, then this guy is not for you. We put over 19K in his pockets in 7 mths. One of the things on our project list was removing the trim & widening the pantry doorway to 43". We also wanted to move the east cinder block wall 40' forward but were awaiting HOA approval so Brent didn't bid on it. Because we would not be in the U.S. during the jobs we asked to be given status updates, he said he would & photos. But only once did Brent get in touch on his own initiative when he ran into problems with removing the wall in the kitchen. Plumbing would have to be moved for an added cost. We agreed to the extra cost. But other than asking for money, we received no updates. The only time photos were received is when Brent asked for the last payment & before settling the account we asked for photos. Since he had not bid on the east wall only saying he would schedule it & we didn't receive a RSO for our ok, we were surprised to receive a bill for this. The charge well over the other bid we had,& had we received a RSO with his quote we would have went with the lower bid. But we paid it because we believed he had done the work we hired him to do & what was done was done. We had no reason to think that he hadn't because we'd received no indication otherwise. When we arrived back in Phoenix & visited the house, 1st walk through, looked fine but imagine on closer inspection our dismay to see that the pantry doorway had not been widened to 43". The only thing that appeared to have been done was the trim removed & the doorway finished. I emailed him many times asking for an explanation as *we have to know what is going on * saying all our plans were on hold, the house cleaning, the furniture, etc. until this was sorted, we had a tight timeline before leaving the country. Left voice messages on his answering machine. No replies for 2 days & then the email from him asking-what is the issue with pantry doorway. Huh! Claims he never received my emails. But, I have a read option & all my emails had been read. He said couldn't widen the doorway, there was a king stud in the wall, it would cost thousands.Why hadn't he contacted us when he hit this snag? It's our decision as to whether or not to proceed...not his.The last time we saw him at the house I pointed out the widening of the pantry doorway that had been done by another contractor, no king stud when the wall was opened (extra cost $726 to us & which we had already paid Brent to do). Next story: the doorway couldn't be widened because, a scissor truss in the wall supports the roof & if widened the wall would crack.Not true, no scissor truss.Asked him why the east cinder block wall had only been moved 35'. It was to be moved 40' forward & had HOA approval.His story HOA has builder's setback of 5'. Checked with the HOA, no setback required. When told this he changed his story to the City of Phoenix requires a setback...contacted the City, no such requirement.We had to hire someone else to move the wall where it should have been moved to in the first place, cost $711.27, a job we had already paid Brent $1,317 to do. Question put to him-ever consider communicating with his customers! Unfortunately, we trusted Brent to honour his contract with us as we did with him. He got paid. Didn't so much as offer any form of restitution.This guy's idea of dealing with problems is to stick his head in the sand & hope all will go away. We filed a complaint against him with the Arizona Registrar of Contractors , when the investigator tried to set up a visit at the house with him & us to address our complaint, he didn't show up..what does that tell you about him. Be warned, he also operates 2 other businesses..Right at Home Repairs & Remodeling & Racin' Plumbers.