D&J Companies

Don was hired to finish a 1000 square feet in our basement. His fees for the work were to be $8500. He setup a payment plan wherein we would pay $2500 every 2 weeks over the first 6 weeks with a $1000 finishing payoff.

Right from the start, there were lots of quality issues: Don's crew cut away drywall where it shouldn't have been cut away; Don put up drywall where he still needed to run plumbing (forcing himself to cut the drywall out and replace when it came time to run the pipes); Don hung doors crooked, hung ceiling grids crooked, built a bar at an angle that should have run straight, ran electrical for a light fixture then proceeded to take it back down (he forgot why he ran it and thought it didn't go there) only to have to rerun it, cut ceiling tiles too short for the space, hung drywall before running conduit for a light in a closet -- you get the idea. LOTS and LOTS of mistakes!

Don also subcontracted out the ductwork to someone he had never worked with before (who actually did a far better job than Don or any of his men did on this project) and tried to subcontract the drywall to someone else he didn't know. When the drywall subcontractor asked for money up-front, Don fired him and "did the work himself", which was Don's last mistake as I'm sure the 4 weeks he had 4 people hanging drywall ate up all the budget. (And the walls look horrible now -- the lack of experience definitely shows!) Basically, Don lied to me to get the job, claiming to "have men" who could do all the steps but the reality is that Don hired the cheapest people he could find to get the work done so he and his main crew could keep the profits. When he couldn't find a cheap enough drywaller, he tackled it himself, eating up the budget. When Don could no longer make a good profit off my project, he left without finishing the job.

From the first day when I signed a contract, I asked for a schedule of when tasks would be complete. Don said he would provide one the next day. After several requests and many weeks with no plan, I drew one up myself just so we'd have something to plan from.

After collecting his third payment of $2500, Don started to come to the worksite about one day a week, instead of the 4 or 5 days per week which had been the norm to that point. After a couple of weeks of sporadic attendance, he came to the house one day, collected his tools, and disappeared. He was kind enough to leave all his trash behind, though. Don has stopped responding to emails and phone calls. My basement is only half complete now, but he has $7500 of my $8500. He has not responded for more than a month to any attempt at communication. He has not returned emails nor voicemail.

I'm currently working to secure an attorney to reclaim my money. Between his negligence and taking money for work which is clearly not complete, I'm hoping that this is an open/shut case. I'm also contacting the Better Business Bureau and Lisa Madigan at the Consumer Fraud Bureau about this incident.

DO NOT hire D&J Companies, Don VanSickle, or any of his other aliases to work on your home. His ethics are horrendous as is his quality of work. He takes no pride in a job well done, lies, and is generally as crooked as the doorways, bar, and walls he built in my home.