Joseph Wescom A.W.B. Divine HomesAllwood Box Cabinetry roofing, repair, painting, took 50% deposit, did not pay insurance premium or subcontractors, did little work, disappeared Blythe Georgia

In a desire to replace my roof, replace 4 exterior doors and the garage door, fix rotten exterior trim and siding, and repaint the exterior of my house in Columbia County, Georgia. I hired Joe Wescom doing business as Allwood Box Cabinety, LLC and A.W.B. Divine Homes.

He assured me he was capable of doing all the categories of work that we discussed, and that he had replaced 25-30 roofs. I refused to proceed with an agreement until he provided me with a Columbia County business license and roof permit. The business license and roof permit requires a $5000 completion bond, which he provided me proof of.  I also insisted on proof of Workman’s Compensation insurance before hiring him, and he provided this. 

He sent me three estimates in writing for the three phases of work: roof  ($5800), rotten wood and doors ($5700) , and painting ($6850), totaling $18350.  These estimates were slightly lower than the other estimates that I had obtained, and so I chose Joe Wescom as the contractor because he was the overall low bid, and I had assurances from 3 references and personally viewing two houses, and obtaining proof of the two forms of insurance, the roof permit, and the business license. In addition an internet search did not reveal any negative items. 

He insisted on 50% down, and said this was standard in the remodeling and building industry.  I stated that I would give him a $2000 deposit by Paypal to induce him to start work, which I did after receiving proofs of insurance.  I stated that I would give him the remainder of the 50% deposit once he had started my job by tearing some shingles off of my roof. He started work by pressure washing, and then with three workers including his brother-in-law John, a carpenter, taking down the gutters and tearing off roof shingles, and I gave him a check for $7175 that evening. He went to my bank the next morning, and personally cashed the check, and then disappeared for 5 weeks, doing no additional work.

 After numerous calls by me he hired a roofer from South Carolina, who proceed to replace most of the front half of the roof. Josh then disappeared, and in retrospect this was because Joe Wescom did not pay Josh for Josh’s work. 

After numerous additional calls, Joe sent a painter who spent several weeks painting 73% of the siding of my house with one coat of blue paint. I complained to Joe that the correct order was to replace the rotten wood first, and then paint, but Joe said that it was OK to start to paint some of the wood that was not rotten. 

The painter did not finish painting, as Joe gave him two checks that bounced. Joe told me several time that he had hired another roofer to finish my roof, and promised several times that the roofer would show up that day, but the roofer never did. I complained that I could not wait any longer for a roof because of continuing interior water damage from the leaky roof and lack of gutters, and Joe assured me that he had yet another roofer, who also never showed up despite several promises from Joe. Joe then stated that if he had to, he would personally get up on the roof with helpers and finish the roof, but never did. 

Joe occasionally used the excuse of a weather forecast of rain, and I pointed out that he could still replace the garage door, and that he could work on rotten wood when it was not raining, and that he could order my replacement doors and siding and store it in my garage.  Joe promised me that once the carpenters started to work they would be there every day until the entire job was finished, but his brother-in-law John and one helper came on one day only to work on the siding, and then never again. 

After 5 months of inaction and desultory unsatisfactory work and numerous excuses and lies, as well as his refusal to pay the roofing and painting subcontractors for work they had performed, as well as extensive continuing interior damage to my house, and after two warnings and final notice, I hired someone else to finish my roof, which the new guy did immediately in one and one-half days.