Matt Sposato or Custom Construction Elite Home Projects Took deposit, failed to complete work, damaged property, blew town! Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Spring Hill, Smyrna, LaVergne, Lebanon Tennessee and Rhode Island

We simply didn't vet Matt Sposato thoroughly enough and I am writing this report, hoping we can save other homeowners the time, money, and hassle associated with working with him.

Matt was hired to build built-in bookshelves in my living room - the library kind with a rolling ladder against a 25' wall. A price was quoted and about 40% of the total was requested as a deposit.  This was probably a red flag itself, but I did give him the deposit so that he could purchase materials etc.  After giving him the deposit, it took 2+ weeks of badgering him to get him to show up to start the work. He finally showed up to start the work on a given day....on that day he arrived at 11AM and left at 2PM, after positioning his saws, saw-horse, and other gear in my front yard.  This is where that gear sat for the next 6 weeks, virtually unused.  Every day during the ~6 week period before we declared this a hopeless charade, he either didn't show up to work on the job at all, or showed up and worked for 2-3 hours. Sometimes, he provided an excuse, and sometimes those were very creative and varied. Sometimes he provided no explanation at all as to why the work was not progressing. The small amount of work finished was amateurish and just provided opportunities for other carpenters who saw the "work" later to mock and deride him for his lack of skill.  The pictures tell the story.

We have hired a skilled carpenter to repair the damage Matt created which includes:

1. Replacing the enormous amount of sheetrock Matt removed for no reason at all
2. Hiring and paying a qualified electrician after Matt damaged the electrical in our living room (nothing in our LR, our main living space, worked when he quit including the ceiling fan, overhead lighting, thermostat, plugs, switches)
3. Removing, transporting, and disposing of the "work" completed which is totally unusable

No actual explanation was ever provided as to why he accepted a job he was hopelessly unqualified to complete.  I asked that he return the deposit and he returned all but $600 of it.  I have paid an electrician $600+ to repair the electrical damage, and will pay a qualified contractor nearly $1000 to replace the sheetrock and remove and dispose of the "work" left behind. I'm out north of $2,200 and the work on the project has yet to begin, in earnest.  This Monday, a qualified contractor will begin the work again, after all the repairs/removal are completed.  He was asked to remove the work left in place, but failed to accept that invitation, so someone will have to be paid to do that.

I'm not really sure if Matt is a scammer so much as he is just an unqualified contractor. who may not have accurately self-assessed.  You can't wake up one day and decide you're going to do contractor work if you don't actually have the training and skills to do that work. Working independently to earn a living also requires enormous amounts of self-discipline and significant organization skills, both of which appeared to be absent here.

In addition....highly skilled contractors are:

1. Anxious to get the work done, so they can move on to the next paying job
2. Communicate effectively about work progress/timing day to day and week to week
3. Show up for work 10-12 hours per day until the job is done
4. Code-competent and committed to work that meets professional standards
5. Don't tackle work they don't know how to do (electrical/plumbing etc.)
6. Don't ask for money up front
7. Operate with ethical, effective, road-tested personal standards of behavior and conduct!
8. Work until the job is finished and the customer is happy!

Let me be 100% clear.....Matt Sposato was none of these things. Just hire someone else, unless you want a big, expensive mess to clean up and a project that will need to be finished by someone else.