Table of Contents
The Renovation Trap
Our Story | |
| 1. | Renovation Trap? What's That? |
| 2. | Our Story In A Nutshell |
| 3. | Cost of Renovating the Renovations |
| 4. | Information and Belief |
| 5. | Locale and Cast of Characters |
| 6. | Expanded story |
| 7. | Windermere's Paul H. Stickney: Outstanding Redmond Citizen |
| 8. | Windermere Owners Are Also Outstanding Citizens |
| 9. | Stickney Fills Out MLS Form For "The Cottage" |
| 10. | Stickney Promotes Bob Trustworthy & Trust Me Construction (TMC) |
| 11. | Stickney's TMC Was Unregistered, Unbonded, Uninsured Contractor |
| 12. | A Bellevue Family's Experience With Stickney |
| 13. | Stickney Knows Worthy's Record |
| 14. | Stickney Promotes Suspended Contractor Peter Oakes |
| 15. | Oakes Being Sued by Customer |
| 16. | Oakes, Unlicensed Electrician and Uncertified Plumber |
| 17. | Prepare To Meet Oakes Again |
| 18. | We Write An Offer On Lake Hills House |
| 19. | Stickney Not Licensed To Sell Construction Services |
| 20. | What Does RCW Say About Unlicensed Practice? |
| 21. | We Base Offers On Renovation Costs |
| 22. | We Shop With Windermere And Stickney |
| 23. | We Reconsider The Cottage |
| 24. | Stickney Writes TMC Estimates In His Own Hand |
| 25. | We Pay "Paul H. Stickney, CRS, Windermere Real Estate" |
| 26. | Paul H. Stickney: Washington Real Estate Licensee |
| 27. | Windermere Supports the "Stickney Team" |
| 28. | Windermere Responsible For Stickney's Activities |
| 29. | Windermere Recommended TMC |
| 30. | "Quod approbo non reprobo" |
| 31. | Agents Must Deal Honestly And In Good Faith |
| 32. | Stickney Tape Records Renovation Meeting |
| 33. | Paul Stickney As Vice President of TMC |
| 34. | Conflict of Interest Rules |
| 35. | Licensed Professionals Hold A Public Trust |
| 36. | What RCW Says About "Unprofessional Conduct" |
| 37. | Penalties For Unprofessional Conduct |
| 38. | TMC Not Registered Or Bonded When Our Job Started |
| 39. | No Notice To Customer From TMC |
| 40. | Notice To Customer Must Provide Registration Number |
| 41. | Consumer Protection Act |
| 42. | What Is A Range Estimate? |
| 43. | Stickney/TMC Use The Word LIMIT |
| 44. | Stickney Fails To Advise Caps, Milestones |
| 45. | Sales Tax and Building Permits |
| 46. | Tax Evasion vs. Tax Minimization |
| 47. | TMC's Paper Trail Tells The Story |
| 48. | TMC Responsible For Collecting The Sales Tax |
| 49. | Sales Tax "Advice" Artificially Lowers Price of Package |
| 50. | Transfer Of Our Net Worth |
| 51. | What RCW Says About Fraud, Tricks, Schemes |
| 52. | Sheep To The Shearing |
| 53. | TMC Had No Registration Number For Permit |
| 54. | Stickney Recommends Automated Home Solutions |
| 54a. | Now Some Chronology |
| 55. | Notes of Explanation-We Pay Certain Costs Directly |
| 56. | The Promises vs. Performance Kaleidoscope |
| 57. | July 2, 2004 Estimate |
| 58. | Contradictory Caveat |
| 59. | July 12, 2004 Estimate |
| 60. | October 12, 2004 Estimate |
| 61. | TMC Got House Drawing Wrong |
| 62. | Change Orders and Re-Dos |
| 63. | Reappearance of Peter Oakes |
| 64. | Oakes's $12,000 Bond Awarded To Plaintiff |
| 65. | Oakes's Outstanding Fines Sent To Collections |
| 66. | Oakes Working For Trustworthy |
| 67. | The Gaping Design Hole |
| 68. | Kitchens Come From Boxes, Don't They? |
| 69. | Upside Down Kitchen Cabinets |
| 70. | We Felt Like Managers |
| 71. | We Worry About Lagging Schedule |
| 72. | Stickney Refers Us To Rosanova |
| 73. | Stickney, Trustworthy & Rosanova: Old Friends |
| 74. | Promised December Deadline Missed |
| 75. | No Milestone Requirements Proved Deadly |
| 76. | The Clean-Up Squad |
| 77. | New Furnace and Ductwork Endangered |
| 78. | Kitchen Cabinet Catch 22 |
| 79. | Bossanova with Rosanova |
| 80. | The Quality of Paul Stickney's Help |
| 81. | February 10 Is Proof of Pudding |
| 82. | The February 10 Kaleidoscope |
| 83. | February Money Drain |
| 84. | Mixing Funds |
| 85. | Why Didn't We "Do Something"? |
| 86. | On The Brink of Ruin |
| 87. | Tile Work from HELL |
| 88. | Unrecognizable Tile Charges |
| 89. | Photos Of Tilework From Hell |
| 90. | "He's Going To Grind Those Down" |
| 91. | Carpeting |
| 92. | Surreptitious Attempt To Fix Kitchen Hump |
| 93. | April Tornado |
| 94. | Cart Before The Horse |
| 95. | A Mortgage from Hell |
| 96. | Appraiser Makes His Final Visit |
| 97. | Some April Chronology |
| 98. | April's Bottom Line |
| 99. | Didn't We See The Problems? |
| 100. | Still Not Understanding, We Pay More |
| 101. | Re-Enter Automated Home Solutions |
| 102. | AHS's Line Voltage Expertise? |
| 103. | Unlicensed Electrical Work At The Cottage |
| 104. | AHS: Electrified Bathtub |
| 105. | Live Wires Left Dangling |
| 106. | AHS: Trim And Supplies |
| 107. | AHS: Attic Wires Not Bundled |
| 108. | AHS: Gang Switch Arrangements |
| 109. | TMC-AHS Business Arrangement Puzzles Experts |
| 110. | Who's Got The $11,075? |
| 111. | AHS Speaker Wires Buried By Drywall |
| 112. | May and June Chronology |
| 113. | Gas Leak, Anyone? |
| 114. | Illegal Bedroom And Bathroom |
| 115. | What Is The Value of the Stickney Team Work? |
| 116. | One Year Later, Stickney Is Still Doing It |
| 117. | It's Not All Black |
| 118. | Compare and Contrast |
| |
| 1. | October 12 TMC Estimate: $3600 |
| 2. | AHS Electricians To Be On TMC Payroll |
| 3. | AHS Secretly Hired As TMC Subcontractors |
| 4. | We See No Bill, But AHS Wants Money |
| 5. | "Legal" Notice Sent To Wrong Address — Twice |
| 6. | Sending Notice To Wrong Address Helps Claimant |
| 7. | We Pick Up Lester's Documents |
| 8. | Unusual Billing and Payment Practices |
| 9. | AHS Numbers Don't Add Up |
| 10. | Add Another $5,559 to Line Voltage Bill |
| 11. | AHS Invoices Meet TMC Invoices |
| 12. | Remember The Experience Of Mr. J.? |
| 13. | Liens and Notices |
| 14. | Why No Timely Notice to Owner? |
| 15. | Let's Forget They Did Things Backwards . . . |
| 16. | Jail Time or Fine or Both |
| 17. | The Quality of AHS/TMC Work |
| 18. | The James Bond Electric Bathtub |
| 19. | Grounding Clamp Loose, Hot Wires Hanging Out |
| 20. | Possible Double Billing |
| 21. | Labor Invoices Ring Sour Note |
| 22. | Materials Invoices Ring Sour Note: April 29 Pickup |
| 23. | Materials Invoices Ring Sour Note: April 11 Pickup |
| 24. | No Mistake — Our Name Is On The Tickets |
| 25. | Thirty-Nine Shopping Trips! |
| 26. | Waterfront Property in Arizona |
| 27. | Low Voltage Work |
| 28. | Low Voltage Labor Appears on Line Voltage Bill |
| 29. | Our Error: We Pay AHS Bill Prematurely |
| 30. | Lester Reports Us to Collection Agency |
| 31. | AHS Change Order Policy |
| 32. | AHS Owes Us Money |
| 33. | AHS: Faulty Work & Refusal to Fulfill Contract |
| 34. | AHS Owes Us a New Wiring System |
| 35. | Fire Alarm System — Was It Permitted? Does It Work? |
| 36. | Summarizing Results of Our AHS Experience |
| 37. | Reconsider This Tall Story |
| 38. | Does This Sound Like A Plan? |
| 39. | POSTSCRIPT Regarding Tansey and CCC |
| 40. | What Is A Confidence Game? |
| |
| 1. | What Are Change Orders? |
| 2. | Before And After — Spot the Boo-Boo |
| 3. | We Correct Front Window Error |
| 4. | We Correct Shed Roof Over Front Door |
| 5. | Self-Evident Error: Pass-Thru Wall |
| 6. | No Lessons Learned Through Long Experience? |
| 7. | Bad Design, Wrong Material, Faulty Execution = Cantilever |
| 8. | Remember Mr. J.’s Experience |
| 9. | No Experience With Remodeling? |
| 10. | No Experience With Concrete Floors? |
| 11. | No Experience With Wood Trim? |
| 12. | No Experience With Toilets? |
| 13. | No Experience With Bathroom Sound Insulation? |
| 14. | No Experience With Tubs? Skinny Tub Needed Yesterday |
| 15. | The “What’s Right” Approach To Design & Costing |
| 16. | We Say YES To Lake Sammamish (Change #1) |
| 17. | We Say YES To A Loft Window (Change #2) |
| 18. | We Move Heating Duct In Kitchen One Foot (Change #3) |
| 19. | We Move Sconce Wiring In Two Bathrooms (Change #4) |
| 20. | One Rec. Room Wall Repainted (Change #5) |
| 21. | Missed Change Order: Kitchen Table Lighting |
| 22. | We Just Said “No.” |
| 23. | Conclusion |
