Cal Custom Construction, LLC

WARNING: DO NOT hire Conner Lahtonen of Cal Custom Construction, LLC.. I am a single mom of three who hired Mr. Lahtonen to do some remodeling work for my home and I was so taken advantage of. Mr. Lahtonen and I entered into a contractual agreement on 2-14-22 with the projected summary description of work for my home remodel, entailing the following: master bath remodel, guest bath remodel, and paint entire house. The projected summary description, along with contract signed by both parties held itemized cost estimates for these three projects, totaling: $37,600. Mr. Lahtonen began demo for the master bath on 3-28-22 and verbally projected 3 weeks time for master bath completion. Mr. Lahtonen DID NOT FINISH the master bath, leaving it incomplete of install of toilet, vanity, mirror, sconces, and overhead rain shower as detailed in the contract when he left on 5-20-22. In addition to Mr. Lahtonen not finishing any of the projects I paid him for, he also left ram board taped down through my entire house with masking tape, that I had to take up after he left, which tore up my hardwood floors. Mr. Lahtonen asked for and collected four deposits from me totaling $37,500. When I questioned the last two deposits he was asking for because they were going over the master bath estimate, he lied to me and told me they were for him to begin work on the guest bath, as outlined in the contract. The guest bath and painting the entire house were NEVER started and the master bath was left INCOMPLETE. I overpaid Mr. Lahtonen by $12,860 going off of what he verbally told me. $12,860 is the amount of money he owes me back as a refund. After he left on 5/20/22, I questioned this via email, asking for detailed receipts and invoices of the cost of the job {per the contract}. He could not provide any proof in detail of cost of job. In addition, he dropped off the master bath vanity on my back porch which had visible water damage. He issued me a refund of $2,500 which he said was for the damaged vanity {$1,500} and $1,000 of unfinished work he never completed for my master bath. That $2,500 check was returned by my bank for insufficient funds. I have seen zero refund from Mr. Lahtonen. Conners mouth is bigger than his actions, telling me he is a man of his word. He speaks about how he has amazing craftsmanship, His attention to detail was terrible with numerous instances of his work exemplifying this. The tile he put up in my bathroom was not linear and parts of grout he used on the floor shows he used way too much mortar as it is darker in some sections {he told me he could scrub this out with a cheesecloth, which he never did}. In some areas, the grout is cracked or incomplete. The contract outlined a bench in the walk-in shower and when I came home from work one day, he was so proud to have put up a floating bench however the next day I caught him installing metal brackets beneath this floating bench which actually made it a shelf. I am now out $12,860 and have had to hire someone else to finish and fix Conners work in my bathroom. I am so disappointed in my experience with Cal Custom Construction, LLC. and Conner Lahtonen. Save yourself the time and money I lost and hire another contractor who knows what they are talking about and who is honest.

Find another contractor - you have been warned. Before you agree to hire Connor (Cal Customs), please read: under-skilled, blame oriented, integrity deficient and plenty of no-shows and delays. I was looking for someone to put on fascia boards and block to reinforce the deck edges for future railing install, Conner of Cal Customs said he was game. After an in-depth, in-person review of our deck (12 X 30 ), Conner pitched a big beautification plan, way more that the wife and I were initially thinking, but since he did not quite know what it would look like, he asked for an open check book and said, - trust me, I stand by my work.- Mistake #1, I trusted him with that open check book when he had no plan. We agreed upon a timeline, but he chose other jobs and refurbishing his girlfriends trailer over meeting the deadline. He missed the deadline by more than a week. Conner either no showed (6 times) or was regularly up to 3 hours late to arrive and almost always left soon thereafter (keep in mind this is a 2 day job that took 2+ weeks). Over the course of the next few weeks, Conner showed his high school woodshop level skills. His measurements were way off, my fingers/toes fit in the gaps he left, or he left no gaps in other areas which left no room for heat expansion. He did not screw the facia boards in properly, even screwed one board upside down so his bottom holes have no screws as there was nothing to screw into, I have flipped the board to correct his mistake. He has left without screwing top boards down properly and has left numerous high boards to scuff your feet on. Because Conner goes -open checkbook- and does not plan ahead or use templates to get proper cuts, he made poor use of our expensive extra deck boards and ran out of materials early due to poor cut redoes, so our stairs look awkward. Conner neglected to complete the blocking so we had to pay someone else $400+ to finish the job he bid. FYI, Conner does not work in the rain, even when he says he will work that day if it is raining, he turns around and goes home without knocking/calling/texting. Conner can not get a 45 degree right angle cut right and blamed the deck builder (time and time again). When he failed twice with a simple cut I recommended a shim. Conner informed me that I did not know what I was talking about and continued to insult my intelligence when I questioned the results of what I was seeing. Well Conner, I found the shim you left and the alignment is much better than you had before buddy you did not mention that did you sir?!? When I handed Conner the thousands of dollars cash he asked for (open check book - remember) he instantly gave me 15% back and started explaining about the numerous issues he could not resolve. His awkward plea about trying to make payroll does not make my deck look any better. Do not get caught by Conner like I was, he is an apprentice without a journeyman and has no business running a business. By the numbers: 2+ weeks to complete 2 days worth of work (7 truncated appearances) 6 no shows when Conner committed to appearing 4 days where he committed to finishing the project 5 days he quietly left after 1-3 hours without saying anything 1 day he left without doing any work whatsoever because he hates working in rain Countless excuses about why his project would not look good when he was done.Trust Me Fail Last note, my neighbor had a rotten board on his deck, Conner said he would pull it and replace it. He pulled it, my neighbor had a board ready to go, but Conner never got back to replace it and my neighborâ s toddler was unable to go on the back deck until my neighbor hired another person to finish the job due to Conners neglect. I recommend that you do not hire Conner/Cal Customs.

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Conner and his team's attention to detail is phenomenal, and they were very helpful in the creative and planning process. You can definitely see why they are call Cal "Customs"