Basim Sawaged Hands of Gold/ Ram Construction LLC deck construction Broomfield Colorado

He uses different names for his company, to avoid the issue of the original company names (Hands of Gold, Ram Construction LLC, Bassim Sawaqed, etc). This is my problem, I often deal from my heart rather than my head, with people I feel sorry for. This is a Syriac Christian refugee from the Middle East, his people are being exterminated there. I thought, like many similar Middle Easterners, he was a skilled and honest craftsman. He turned out to be a lying thief and dangerously incompetent. The contract was for $7K, with $4K down to cover material, and a projected 2 day work schedule for completion. That turned into nearly 2 weeks. Helpers were evidently rather dim types who often requested to use house bathroom and locked themselves in for up to 30 minutes +. His crew chief, when he was away seeking other contracts, confided that his biggest problem was spending enormous amounts of his income in the nearby mountain casinos. By the second day, he began to dismantle a nearby retaining wall for blocks for the project, telling me I really did not need the wall and he needed the blocks for the perimeter.

I told him I already paid for all the materials, he smiled and pointed out that this was the "extra costs as determined by contractor" that was a clause in the contract. I figured at $1 per block at Home Depot (minus his discount), I was looking at under $100 extra. He charged $4 per block for an extra $300. Now, the nightmare part; I figured him for a craftsman and experienced builder, the way he described himself. HE FILLED IN THE POND MOSTLY WITH SAND, NOT ROAD GRADE OR GRAVEL AS DIRECTED BY ALL COUNTY DEPARTMENTS. He placed cement pavers corner to corner on top of this sand pit. After 2 weeks of him and his Keystone Cops crew; on 2 days, car loads of mentally deficient men parked in the street outside with hopes of coming in to do work, he finally completed, way past the contracted 2 days for the job. I was gladly finished with this man. Within 2 weeks, the disaster of his incompetence became clear; the sand structure shifted and the whole deck started to warp. Then, some early rain and snow came in, AND IT MELTED AND FLOWED TOWARDS THE HOUSE.

I realized I was dealing with a potentially serious hazard, severe water seepage towards the foundation, not away from it. I called in an engineer neighbor whom I intended to put together a gazebo kit, he used a level to determine that the entire cement deck was constructed TWO DEGREES TOWARDS THE HOUSE. He told me that within 2-3 years of rain and snow, I would face an inevitable structural problem under the house. The whole thing had to be re-done to slant water flow away from the foundations. I contacted Sawaged and told him the problem. His response was that I need to wait for a year or 2 to see how the deck settled in, not to construct a gazebo in that time, and after a couple of years, if it became a problem, he could sit down with me and write a new contract to resolve it!!!. I was flabbergasted at his arrogance and gall!

I am a person who owns his own blunders and clear mistakes, I gave the guy a break to take the job, out of good will, and got royally burned. My mistake, no one else's. The entire reconstruction, a far better and more attractive outcome came in at about $3500, supervised by the engineer friend. He then charged $400 to put together the gazebo, the final result is very attractive and functional. Now it gets even worse on Sawaged's part; As the new reconstruction is completing, very early in the morning, I hear someone going in the side gate to the back yard. I figure it is the engineer supervising the new job coming in early. I look out of the window for his truck, and instead see what looks like Sawaged's van driving off, very fast. Apparently, he went in and expropriated one of my holiday folding tables, leaving in such a hurry, he left the gate wide open. This is not just a shoddy contractor, this is a grossly incompetent contractor and a thief. I pray others who got burned by him come forward as well.