The Pool Deck Saga

ELDAMAN CONSTRUCTION

Robert Serino

Phone: (866)808-2241 or (845) 380-1466

Email: rserino@eldamanconsultants.com

 

[EDIT 6/29/2012] Might be doing business as: JRod Pools and Construction Poughkeepsie, NY

[Edit 7/19/2012] Found out that Deck Douche was arrested in September 2010 for offering illegal immigrants driver’s licenses for a substantial fee.  CLICK HERE FOR THE NY STATE POLICE POST

[EDIT 8/3/2012] Times Herald Record wrote an article on Deck Douche!! CLICK HERE

 

 

DO NOT HIRE HIM FOR ANYTHING!!!

 

WHY? Read on…

Back in June 2011 I hired a Robert Serino and his company Eldaman Construction to build a simple pool deck. This job proved to be too much of a challenge for Eldaman Circus Act.

Check out his BBB review:

Eldaman Consultants & Construction Review – CONTRACTORS-GENERAL in Poughkeepsie, NY – BBB Business Review – BBB serving Metropolitan New York, Long Island, and the Mid-Hudson Region.

Then come back and read the timeline. I’ll wait….

Welcome back. Onto the timeline:

June 13, 2011

Eldaman Construction shows up and dug some holes. I noted that they were not very deep, but what do I know?

 

Monday, June 20th 2011

Ok so why did we fail?

The footings have to be 48″ deep in case of a hurricane or the apocalypse. They were dug to 40″. I guess Eldaman Construction thought 40″ was good enough.

Monday, June 27th:

Fuck it, I’ll dig the holes deeper for Deck Douche

 

Who is building this deck anyway?

 

 

See..wasn’t so hard.

Tuesday June 28th 2011

One week after the failure, two teenage kids show up in a beat up Buick. They get out, and I notice they have no tools. Oh this is not going well already. A tall blonde hair kid that looks like Steve Buscemi from Fargo:

I am here to build yer deck.

The other winner was a dark haired kid I would later find out is the contractor’s son. So they arrive, look in the holes, grab an empty bottle of Vitamin water and try to bail out the holes filled with the rain from last night’s thunderstorm. I shake my head wondering:” Where is their pump?…screw that, where the hell are their tools? They are using an empty Vitamin water bottle. This is a construction contractor and they do not have a pump? Not even a post-hole digger?” They leave saying they will be back later, but do not return.

Wednesday,June 29th 2011:

Two guys show up at 10am. Why not 8am like a professional construction company? I do not know. Steve Buscemi from Fargo is now accompined by the guy from the mailroom in Elf.:

At least this time, they brought a shovel, post hole digger and a pump. Alright, finally signs of progress! I hop on my tractor and pretend to do shit arounf the yard. I wanted to keep a close eye on this circus act. They got to work……

Nope, first got to light up a cigarette. Then another. Then another. Next stop, lean on the shovel…cough a smoker’s cough, hock up half a lung, dig a little, lean some more, light up again. They did make the holes a bit deeper and lined them up but that took all day. So far, I have done more for this deck that I paid Eldaman Construction and Circus to do. They have done Shit. Nada. Nothing. Well, they did fail an inspection if that counts as something. But do absolutely nothing to get it done. Bring in an excavator? Hell no! Let’s get the home owner to dig the holes with his own machine because he looks like the type of asshole that would. And I did. Some gig Eldaman Construction has got. I pay them, I do the work!

Later that day, Buscemi and mail room guy decide that there is too much water for their circus act to handle and will come back tomorrow with a better pump and plastic sonotubes.
“What time you guys coming tomorrow”, I ask already knowing that they have no plans of coming.

“[coough cough]..in the morning.” he grumbled.

By the way, have you ever heard of a construction company so afraid and preplexed by water in footing holes?

Thursday, June 30th:

10:45am: No call, no show. I called the Deck Douche. That is what we started calling him at this point. I left a message:

“This is O’Shea…your guys are a no call, no show again. Umm..let me know if you still want to build this deck. I know the holes with water in them are a challenge, but I thought I was hiring a construction company that could handle rocks and water. Call me back let me know what you want to do.”

1:15: No response.

6:20 pm: Nothing, nada, zip, zero. Awesome! Another unprofessional day!

Friday, July 1st:

10:00am: Called the Deck Douch. I left a message. I have a five year old and these 4 ft holes filled with water are dangerous. and I am getting tired of looking at this:

Saturday July 2nd

Called and left yet another message. No response.

Wrote on his Facebook Wall. No response.

Wrote on his blog. No response.

No call back either.

This is getting ridiculous.

Sunday July 3rd

Did not even bother calling. What would be the point?

Monday, July 4th

Did not even bother calling. What would be the point?

Tuesday,July 5th

9:12 am: While I was at work in Manhattan I called Deck Douche again. Shockingly, he did not answer.

9:47 am: He finally called back-from his cell on his way to my house. Oh Shit. Why? See…by this time, I fired Deck Douche and his Circus Act and hired Third Generation Home Builders owned by Joe Russek. While on the phone with me, Deck Douche pulled into my driveway and discovered that I hired the consumate professional Joe Russek to pour the footings since Deck Douch could not get it done. Eldaman Construction swears to me on the phone that he was going to take care of the footings today but…..wait…..he again showed up with no tools!! Going to dig with a Vitamin Water bottle again? Asshole.

Anyway, not happy I brought someone else in to do the job he could not, he told me to send an email requesting our money back.

I did that. And never recieved the money back. Most people would be pissed and sue him. I have no plans to sue. What is that going to do? If I win, all he has is a Lein against him. Big fucking deal.

Not surprisingly, his Facebook page is gone and his website is down. I hope he is out of business and suffering from rectal cancer and has to shit in a colostemy bag. His company could not handle a simple pool deck and he should not be in the construction business.

Sayonara Deck Douche. Back to the time line:

10:00 Waiting for another inspection.
6:00 pm Shockingly, the Town Building inspector never showed up. Joe waited until 6pm. No show…I bet she is still pissed at the Deck Douche.

Wednesday, July 6th 2011

Called building department to find out why Mary did not show up. Turns out, the re inspection fee had not been paid by the Deck Douche. He said he did. He lied? I am shocked. Let me be clear on that: Deck Douche said he PAID it. Not going to…..not planning to… but in fact, DID PAY. Another miscommunication by the Eldaman Circus Act. I should not even call them a circus because it is an insult to clowns everywhere. At least clowns are professional and show up to their jobs with tools of the trade.

She comes out later that day and……

We FAILED!! The Town Building Inspector even wrote the word “again” on the sticker: (Bottom right hand corner)

New York State code dictates the holes need to be 48″. She claimes they were not and there was some sediment at the bottom. The holes were 48″,I measured them myself. . Whatever. The sediment can be cleaned out right before the cement is poured. Plus, cement is heavy and will force the sediment down below 48″.

Joe theorized that Mary does not know that he (Joe) took over the job and she is failing the holes to spite Eldaman. I agree. Unprofessional as that may be, and I hope that is not the case, but it seems plausible. Joe and his helper Rob got busy digging the holes down to 49″. We will see what tomorrow brings.

Thursday July 7th.

9:00am Joe went to the town building. Did not call, actually went like a professional would. See, Joe took the fail personally and was just as upset at the Fail sticker #2 as I was. Joe is getting hired for any and all future jobs at the O’Shea estates! You should hire him too: call him for all your construction needs: (845 800 3515) Not only does he show up on time, he shows up with tools!!

12:00 noon: No news on the 3rd inspection yet.

6:30 pm: No call. No show. She even told Joe she would be up to inspect at 3.

Nope. We called the office only to be greeted by the voicemail. Awesome.

We fucking give up. The lethal combination of Deck Douch and the Town of Mamakating Building Department is just too much. Fuck it, we’re out.

10 months later…….

 

May 1st, 2012:

We reopened the permit with some design changes (bigger deck).

Of course getting a pool deck permit in the Town of Mammakating is no easy task. We submitted the changes to the deck. The Town wanted to know where our well is. Why are they delaying my permit asking for information they already have? See…the information they saught after is in the file. Do they bother to check? No, it is better to send out a letter and ask for the information again. My contractor literally had to go to the Building Department pull the file and show them.

May 12, 2012 9:15 AM:

After two weeks of paper wrestling with the Town, Joe Russek of Third Generation Home Builders got to work digging more footings:

Joe Russek begins Operation Deck Build 2012.

Footing hole close to the pool-filled with rain water

Joe dug the footing holes down past code, put plastic sonotubes in, then backfilled them. Then, it was Memorial Day weekend and we discovered that we do not need a pool deck:

Tuesday, May 29, 2012:

4:00 pm. WE PASSED THE FOOTING INSPECTION!! That is just 344 days from the first intial failure. I think this year, Operation Deck Build will be successful.

Can we build a deck now?

June 1st, 2012:

Lumber was delivered!! Deck Building begins Monday!!

Will this pile ever become a deck?

Monday, June 4th:

Joe started working at 7 am. At 7:22 am we started this conversation: (I am in green)

It did not break in an hour. It got worse. At 8:40, Joe called it for the day.Deck Douch + Town + Weather..this deck is going to kill me. Tomorrow’s weather is supposed to be nicer…we shall see.

June 5th 2012:

What is this I see? The beginnings of framing? Holy shit, can it be?

June 6, 2012

June 8, 2012:

Somebody order some wood?

Joe shows up to put the deck on!

Nice Kerf cuts!! Even nicer legs.

Everybody hang on !!

Ran out of day light. See ya Tomorrow!

June 9, 2012

Rain…. Of course.

June 10th 2012

Rain.

June 11th 2012

The boys showed up and got to work. I did not take any pictures because I forgot.

June 13, 2012

Decking complete!

June 14,2012

Building the 5′ privacy fence and adding the rails.

One board in the front. One board in the back. Rinse. Repeat. Nice shorts Joe.

At an angle, you can see through..when you look straight on you can’t see shit.

June 15th 2012

Digging trenches and completing the electrical work.

My friend George Ewings came over around 8 am and got straight to work. I was told to dig a ditch. So I did. Excellent work George!! .

Destroying the yard for buried cable.

Electrical wires from the house to the deck buried underground.

Wires running under the deck to the filter.

Very special shout-out to Ryan Engelsen of RHE Electric. Ryan lives next door and came down to help wire up the filter and the timer. Thanks Ryan!! Pool is open to you and your family anytime.

June 16,2012

Stairs built!!

June 17th 2012

Gate installed.

Almost one year to the day of the first inspection failure, the deck is finally complete. This deck was truly built by members of the community: Joe Russek, Rob, George Ewings, and Ryan Engelsen. Thanks guys for all your hardwork, professionalism, and expertise. Oh, and showing up on time and not running away with my money. Suck it Eldaman Construction.

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