Sara RMC Construction LLC

RMC Sara Construction LLC (hereafter referred to as “Contractor”) breached my initial Homeowner and Contractor Agreement when the agreed renovation on my home did not start within 30 days of Ricardo Martinez, the Contractor and CEO, signed our agreement. The renovation was supposed to be completed within 6 months from the date both parties signed the agreement, but it was not. The Contractor signed the agreement on December 1, 2018, and I, James L. Isreal Jr. (hereafter referred to as the “Homeowner” or the “Client”) signed it on December 11, 2018. As of March 11, 2020, the renovation was not completed after $154,000 was issued by the 203k bank loan, $50,000 was advanced and given by the Homeowner, and over $18,000 was charged to the Homeowner’s personal credit card over a 17-month time period. The Contractor failed to correct defective work and persistently failed to carry out the work in accordance with the agreement as the Contractor was supposed to provide a work schedule to the Homeowner at the onset of the project despite numerous requests verbally, text, and email. However, the Contractor failed to execute the performance of work that he did not provide to his Client. The Contractor failed to provide a list of materials within budget to the Client. It appears that materials from other jobs were used without the discretion of the Homeowner/Client’s approval e.g. old dirty windows, wooden frames under the window, framing wood, drywall, plumbing materials, doors, etc., which have to be corrected based on the poor installation and violates the clause that warrants all materials are new and free of defects. The Contractor failed to supervise and direct work of all subcontractors. Almost on a daily basis (or when work was being done to my home), the Contractor was not on the premises supervising subcontractors as the Homeowner would drive by as well as stop by to find work not being completed, being completed incorrectly, which the Contractor hired other subcontractors to redo the poorly and or incorrectly installed work. On one occasion, the Homeowner arrived to his property to find that the main level was flooded as well as the crawl space near the original water value due to the splint incorrectly being attached and popped off while the painters were left unsupervised to which the Contractor could not be reached when called at the time of emergency. Another time, the Contractor informed the Client that someone supposedly broke the egressed window when the window frame appeared to look pried into verses broken into since no items were apparently stolen and no glass was found in the inside of the home, which was narrated by the contractor as a break-in. When questions about use of insurance, it was deemed more costly for him but later he attempted to charge the homeowner in an email dispute. Other times, the Homeowner would find subcontractors unsupervised in the house and items purchased by the homeowner i.e. insulation and security light stolen. At some point during the 17 months, the Homeowner realized that the constant request from the Contractor for monies was not typical of a 203k loan and addressed it. The Homeowner informed Ricardo that if he had made known that his company did not have the financial capital to undergo the 203k project that he would not have signed and entered into an agreement with him especially providing $20,000 initially depleting his savings account to sustain not living in the house. Throughout the process, the Contractor complained about not having the means to pay workers or to do work on the house without financial assistance and would ask monies from the Homeowner as well as request to get additional monies from family to keep the job going etc. The Contractor failed to clean-up, remove trash from the Homeowner’s residence as well as free from waste or rubbish resulting from work. Pictures were taken of soda cans, etc. left in gutters and bottles and other items left around the premises. The Contractor or subcontractor driving the dump trump destroyed my fence backing into the driveway on the side of the house. The Contractor didn’t notify me of the damages and tried to cover up by affixing a wire and a different part to it. The Contractor failed to reimburse the Homeowner advanced monies totaling $30,000.00. In December 2019 when an initial $5,000.00 reimbursement check was issued from the Contractor to the Homeowner to begin past due repayments of the advancement, Ricardo requested that I wait to deposit the business check he issued to me until after he deposited the draw for $30,000 plus he received from the 203k disbursement. He stated that he would notify me of when I should deposit the check. After receiving notification from Ricardo that I could deposit the check, Bank of America would not accept the check and would not disclose to me as to why. I attempted to deposit the check at several locations and was rejected each time as if I were doing something fraudulent. Despite questioning tellers about the check being a Bank of America check from someone with a bank account with them, I did not understand how I was unable to deposit the check into my Bank of America account. In my last attempt, the teller told me that I needed to speak with my contractor or the person who issued the check. I reached out to Ricardo, he stated we would handle the situation once I returned to the area, but he never resolved it. I later questioned Ricardo and told him my thoughts about what happened. Ricardo likely opened up a Bank of America account to access that the 203k draw monies faster. He deposited the check, waited for it to clear, withdrew the monies, then gave me the clearance to deposit the check knowing that I would not be able to do due to insufficient funds. However, $5,000 was at least retrieved from the last 203k draw issued. The Homeowner received a stop work order and fines for $4,668 on July 26, 2019, from DCRA for the Contractor going outside of the scope of repairs submitted. The contractor agreed to handle the stop-work order since I as the homeowner was not provided copies of the documents submitted to DCRA, etc. Ricardo gave me the impression that everything with the stop work order (including the fine) was handled until I contracted DCRA recently as of July 2020. I spoke with Mr. Reese, a DCRA chief inspector, who informed me that the fine once received were still outstanding after reaching out to DCRA regarding whether the excavation and underpinning the Contractor completed was permitted, inspected, and recorded with DCRA since mold was growing in the basement in spaces water was noticed prior to the contractor drywalling the basement. The Contractor was terminated after 17 months (Dec. 2018 – May 2020) of persistently failed attempts by the Homeowner to get the Contractor to complete the renovation as promised and agreed. The contractor failed to ensure that work did not cease for more than 30 consecutive days due to stop work orders from negligence as well as claiming the company lacked revenue to complete work despite more than $68,000.00 advanced to the Contractor by the Homeowner in a 203k contractual agreement. On the day I terminated Ricardo via email and text, I requested that he retrieve his tools from my residence. Although he replied mid-morning that he was unable to come to the property (despite the fact that had I not fired him, he should’ve been working on the house anyway), I decided to visit my home to ensure that he wasn’t being underhanded and being at the property anyways. When I drove to the property after receiving a text message from Ricardo stating that he wouldn’t be able to pick up his tools that day, I found one of his employees on my property stealing materials from the shed of the property, etc. loading them into his van. Despite requesting that he not take any materials off my property, I contacted Ricardo. He told me the guy was there to work on my shed and he wasn’t supposed to be taking anything from the property. Ricardo stated that he would reach out to the guy and tell him not to supposed to take anything from the property. After speaking with Ricardo, the guy continued taking materials from the property after being asked to leave the property. He said to me that Ricardo told him to take the material, which is what he continued to do. The police were called because Ricardo was informed that was the only way he would be granted access to the property again, but in this situation, the police was called because he had someone stealing purchased mater After terminating the Contractor and cleaning up the house from trash, waste and rubbish, the Homeowner soon noticed more and more poor workmanship e.g. framing not square or plum, windows cracked and not properly installed without screens or not plum etc. , unleveled basement cement slab, water line lies, warped and hardwood floors, and water leaks. The excavated soil from the basement was dumped in the backyard (Ricardo offered to build a step to step down into the shed based on all of the soil displaced outside for a fee. Days after terminating Ricardo, I reached out to the companies on my electrical and plumbing permits to see if Ricardo had paid them accordingly. I wanted to know if they would guarantee the work they completed on the house under the supervision of Ricardo as well as to see if they were willing to finish the job they started once I hired a new general contractor. I reached out to the National Electric Service – Eugene S. Ahns, the Master Electrician, May 11, 2020. After asking him those questions, he admitted to me that he nor any of his employees never completed any work on my house. Mr. Ahns admitted to me that Ricardo paid him to rent his company’s name and license to retrieve the permits, and that no money was owed. Because I met the electrician who worked on my house, I asked Ahns if a Black male named Alonzo worked for him, which he denied. I attempted to contact the master plumber, Kewal K. Khatta at Kaywell Construction, but the contact number listed on the permit was incomplete i.e. (301) 53-64. I googled the company’s name and contacted the number listed online i.e. (301) 776-1799, and it was not in service. In June 2020, I drove passed by row houses being built from the ground up in the Anacostia community off of W Street across the street from the Frederick Douglass’ house. I stopped there thinking if these guys are capable of erecting a house from the ground up then they could potentially correct and finish my house too. I looked on the permits to get the contractors information only to learn that Eugene Ahns and Kewal Khatta names were on the permits for this construction project as well. I am requesting a complaint be filed, an investigation be done, and or a report be filed with the Office of Professional Licenses. As a first-time homebuyer and owner, I have not been able to live in my house for over two years now. The termination of my relationship with the Contractor has not only threatened the certificate of occupancy for my residence it has jeopardized my financial situation (bank loan, ability to make mortgage payments and keep a room rented to live, as well as income earned, and ultimately to get additional monies to finish my home) and precious time wasted from me being able to move my aging mother to live with me. Overall, the entire renovation project was built on deliberate falsified information provided by the Contractor to the Homeowner. In retrospect, it appears that the Contractor used his cunning fast talk abilities to orchestrate and siphon monies out of the Homeowner knowing that it is difficult for Homeowners to be indemnified from well-versed Contractors.

RMC Sara Construction is probably the best construction company in under the estimated time they did wonderful renovations on my four story home, I strongly recommend RMC Sara Construction.

Beautiful work, 3 story jeffersonian style home addition. Doubled my living space!

I hate to give RMC Sara Construction a bad review because they really do some decent work but I had a home to put up for sale and it took them longer then the estimated time. They don't have enough staff on hand. There is no structure in how they conduct business. You have laborers sitting around until the supervisor shows up. They even leave early. I ordered mahgony hard wood floors and it was horrible installation.