Hilikar Company, LLC

Our work with Jay Javlin Johnson at Hilikar Company has been a NIGHTMARE! He is a fraud, cheat, thief and liar. There are now multiple people I have contacted who share the same story. Jay is a master salesman and makes many promises. I have been dealing with him for the past year to move on our project. We have made over $20,000.00 in payments to him and virtually no work has been done. We recently terminated our contract with him and we are seeking legal action. He has been reported to the Attorney General of Missouri and the Better Business Bureau. He will be held accountable for his fraudulent actions.

In October 2021, Hilikar company was recommend to us by Angi as a result of a request. In late 2021, Hilikar Company was hired for a complete basement remodel, which included removal and replacement of a load bearing wall, and for the construction of a 3-car California carport. At the time of proposal, they were able to provide examples of prior project schedules, and we were impressed by their planning and organization, as well as their willingness to stand by their commitments. This turned out to be a false representation of their business practices. We made our first payment in January 2022 to start the engineering designs. It took another 2 months (March 2022) to get to a point where we had a design in place and could sign a proposal for the work. At this time they requested a down payment of 20% to begin, and we were given a verbal commitment that they would complete the entirety of our projects by 10/31/2022. Immediately upon signing, we went into specifics of design detail (finishing work) for the basement. Finishing details were finalized July 2022 and documented in an addendum. This was the last time any design changes were ever requested or discussed. Our experience since signing was mostly delay after delay, coupled with very little communication. They ignored repeated texts, calls, and emails. When they finally did respond, they would make a promise of doing activities that never happened. They would promise to show up, and then be a complete “no show/ no call”. We would follow up several times, only to be given another promise that they would eventually miss, or be told they were busy with other customers and could not talk to us, or told “bad phone reception” and therefore could not speak to us that day. One of the many reasons for delay was waiting on a carport permit which had to be resubmitted twice because the drawings did not meet the easily available requirements set forth by the City of St. louis and available online. Each submission took several weeks. This was easily avoidable. We personally were the ones calling the City to keep the permit moving forward after asking Hilikar to follow up for weeks to no avail. We also learned the City had been reaching out to them to keep the permit moving as well, but Hilikar had not returned their calls. To date, we still do not possess the carport permit. We were repeatedly asked to make progress payments that were tied to specific aspects of the project. From June to September, we made “progress payments” totaling over $18,320, on top of our deposit, for work on I-beam, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and concrete work and to date, none of this work has been started. Although we had been requesting a schedule throughout, it wasn’t until September that we were actually provided one. This proved to be pointless, as it was obviously a quick copy and paste job that had things on it which didn’t pertain to our project at all. The dates provided on the schedule showed completion of the basement and carport by 11/08/2022, which seemed unrealistic based on their track record. And when asked to commit to that date, or any dates in fact, they refused. After Hilikar demolished our basement and backyard, the projects came to a complete halt. From April to September, absolutely nothing was done to either the basement or carport. In September, they hired a one man “crew” to remove a ~16 foot section of a load bearing brick wall from the basement that was holding up our 3 story house. The temporary 2x4 supports they used were not designed by an engineer or inspected by the city so we have no idea if they are sufficient. The cracks we are starting to notice in the stories above it, indicate they are not. After a few weeks of working on the basement wall, the sub-contractor took his tools and left town. Since then, nothing has been touched in our basement, thus leaving us in an unsafe condition for which Hilikar is liable for. Additionally, our permit for the basement load bearing wall is nearing its expiration. Regarding the carport, Hilikar has excavated our backyard and placed a temporary fence for our dog that is held up by string and offers no safety to our property. Had this been a temporary solution, we would have been fine, but this is now the permanent state of our backyard as Hilikar has apparently abandoned the project. Even as recently as 10/14/22, Hilikar had the nerve to ask for more money even though they were not doing anything on our job. They tried to double bill us to start the basement plumbing, which we already paid in September. They also tried to bill us $4210 for “extra” concrete, which we did not ask for or agree to. We were uncomfortable paying any more money to Hilikar, but they threatened that if we didn’t pay for framing to start, we would be in breach of contract. In total, we have paid over $52,000 to Hilikar and all we have to show for it is a demolished basement and backyard as well as an unsafe house and unsecured backyard. Unfortunately, the review above is only the tip of the iceberg of the nightmare we have experienced with this company and we can provide additional details upon request.

Jay is honest upstanding man that did exactly as he said he would and more. He's trustworthy, easy to communicate with, on schedule and in charge of his crew. His crew did an excellent job on my project. I 100% recommend Jay and will be hiring again for future projects.

Went well, enjoying my new space. Very pleased with the company and would use them again on future updates. I would also recommend them to friends. They went above my expectations and things came out beautiful

Went great

I hired Hilikar after some strong reviews on this site, but if you'll notice -- many of them were only in the estimate process. As someone who paid, I had a totally different experience. I am writing this as objectively as possible, because this was a big job (a complete home renovation after water damage repairs.) Things started so promisingly, with work completed and on schedule (beginning in June 2021.) Around August, things slowed dramatically. I kept being told the drywall was underway and I would be getting kitchen plans soon. This went on for two months, with me constantly being told "any day now" or a variety of excuses. In early October, (four months after work began,) I was told drywall was done, and I needed to make my next payment. I asked for photos of the drywall. It was not done. When faced with questions about the scheduling and lack of work done (and missed deadlines,) Jay left the job. I told him I would pay the remaining drywall payment from my $5,000 deposit. If he would return the rest, we could simply part ways. He has refused to do that and simply told me to contact an attorney (which I did. That process is just now beginning.) I had two contractors in afterwards who confirmed there were several days of work left to be done on the drywall (and I can provide anyone with those photos.) It was not done, months after being told it was just "days away." While Jay was always responsive, it was months of false promises and missed deadlines. Also, they were working the entire time without permits (unbeknownst to me.)

They were fast efficient stuck to schedule got everything open quick.

The job went very well and we were very happy.

It was a amazing experience!!! Great work was done and finished results were amazing! Jay was very attentive to my needs and very professional! I was impressed with the over all experience! I HIGHLY recommend for any remodeling project!!

Smooth and timely!