In what should be a time of happiness and excitement in the pending birth of my first child, that all has turned into a time of stress and anxiety. It’s all thanks to Manuel Guerra and Hincha Contracing Corp. Fuck this guy and his company, which hopefully will be out of business by the end of the year.
My wife and I needed a lot of work on our house. We first got some new windows from Home Depot, and they sent some guys over to install the windows. After they were done, my mother in law asked for their card, and it the crew of guys were from Hincha Contracting Corp. My wife calls and the business owner Manuel (Manny) comes and we show home the house and what we need done. We talk for a moment and he is excited for this project. Next day he emails a proposed contract with payment schedule, which my wife and I review and sign after some minor markups.
He and his crew arrive and start the first phase of work. I have a check ready for him for the first payment, but he didn’t want the check made to his company, but to him directly. So I do that and after he deposits it, he complains my bank won’t release the funds to his bank to clear the check. So I had to go out of my way to show the money was moved, it’s his bank holding the money. Eventually it’s cleared so he stops pissing and moaning.
All is well and good for about two weeks, aside from some minor miscommunications and modifications. Then Manny wouldn’t show up, just his guys. I get he has other jobs to oversee, but when he’s gone for days at a time and his crew are running short on supplies , that’s dodgy. On top of this, he starts ignoring emails or calls. He’d only respond to tell us that things we asked for (we compiled a detailed list of items we wanted in each room and had all the sku#s and Info from Home Depot for him to pick up) were out of stock, back ordered, or suddenly no longer sold in the store. This bullshit started pushing the end date of the project back, which Manny declared with confidence would be 45 days.
So a couple weeks in, he’s got some progress on phase 1 far along despite delays. He comes to me for the second payment. Now he wants part of it in cash since checks take time to clear, which now he wants in his company name. So I have to cancel my morning plans to go get this cash. While I was rushing to the bank to get the money. I theorized he’s trying to keep his assets looking low, but was it to dodge taxes or creditors? Was he getting ready for a divorce and trying to hide shit from his wife? So I get my end of the deal done. He still isn’t talking to us otherwise besides items we want are delayed. He ignores my wife’s messages about update on progress. Now he’s getting on my nerves. His crew is fine, they were helpful and reliable. I have no issue with them.
I have to mention we are living in this construction zone as this is happening. It’s chaos, everything is covered and I feel claustrophobic at this stage from the limited living space we have. What would happen at this stage of the work is he and his crew would finish a room, want to work in a room we have stuff in, and tell us work is going to start THE MORNING THEY ARRIVE. So I have to spend my morning before work breaking my balls moving stuff into any space I can find to clear the room about to be worked on. It was fucking ridiculous.
Finally my wife and I sit with Manny to get some sort of update and find out when the work will be done. We have a kid coming and have to get things ready. He goes on how we are rushing him, how we are ungrateful we are to the extra work he's had done (which some I have to get other people to fix). Then goes he needs more money to cover the cost of some other work in the house and my wife had none of that. She told him what the deal is, and Manny was all pouty face (he doesn’t like to be questioned or told what’s up, so he sits there like a bitch).
He later on that week asked about more money, I realize he’s using the money we give to pay for something in his other projects. We ask for proof why extra things had to be done, he gives a meely mouth answer-mind you some things he wanted to charge us for as extra were in the contract already, that he wrote.
At this point the kitchen was the last big phase. This is month three of the 45 day project. At this point I’m pissed, I’m being told don’t speak to Manny because my hot headedness could make matters worse. My wife and I have to go to Home Depot and get materials and supplies for Manny’s guys since Manny doesn’t show up anymore to the house more than once a week, and even then it’s for 10 minutes. He’s lying to his crew as well as us, but his crew is still loyal to him for now. My weekends and some nights involve picking up tiles, fixtures we want in the house that we listed, and going out of our pocket even more. I’m livid and it’s stressing me and my wife out.
Manny said he needed the money for the kitchen phase, which my wife specifically asked “is the money going to the cabinets as well?”. He said yes, but that was a lie. My wife had to deal with the cabinet and countertop people. Manny fucked that up. He was supposed to secure the sink, which he eventually did a week after the cabinets say in my house in boxes. We asked for specific tiles for the backsplash and small bathroom next to the kitchen. Manny didn’t get the right ones and we had to make do with what he did get, on top of getting the backsplash ourselves.
Finally I had it, I told him off how he fucked up the last summer my wife and I had before becoming parents, I had to miss doctor appointments with my wife to fix and deal with his bullshit. I told him he had 10 days to finish. I said “Next Wednesday at noon you are your crew’s stuff is out of this house.” The Tuesday before the deadline my wife and I catch Manny (usually he sees us, hides in his van and drives away if I don’t jump in front of it first). He said everything will be done by noon.
Wednesday we saw a lot of small things that need to be addressed as well as the radiators they removed to clean the floors. I tried the heat the Saturday before and one radiator they replaced started leaking. We sent Manny a pic of it-no response. I called Manny out on him not communicating with my wife, which he claimed he has. Eventually he couldn’t take it, said he quits and keep the rest of the money. He then tells his crew I fired him, they rolled their eyes. My wife finally vented the built up anger she had to him, which he antagonized her more. He was trying to bait us to say or do something so he was the victim.
Fuck Manny Guerra and his bitch ass. Punk isn’t even listened anymore as a GC. Look him up in the NYC Dept. of Buildings database, and you’ll see he’s a two time loser with his license. My wife and I are sending our experience and all the dirt we found on this scumbag motherfucker to everyone he is associated with:
-Home Depot corporate will be getting an email or two with facts on Manny. How can an unlicensed GC work on Home Depot projects? I wonder how much did Manny pad the invoices he handed in?
-Department of Labor may want to look into him for not paying his crew, who only stayed because Manny promised them a big payment in the end. We bursted that bubble by showing his guys what we have paid him up until that point.
-Any and every site that one can review Manny and Hincha Contractor Corp on will certainly get an factual assessment on this company’s performance and customer service.
-Better Business Bureau will be contacted.
It’s one thing to be a scumbag, but to not be a man and quit like the bitch he is (I have stronger Spanish words I was at one point going to refer to him as in front of him and his crew but I was advised not to) is inexcusable. Had he admitted he was in over his head or took the loss when he underestimated the cost, he would still be scum but at least owned up to something. But he tried to be slick and do me and my wife dirty. Well, this pig wants to play with us by dragging us into the mud he will eventually get slaughtered. He reminds me of another guy I was loyal to for years who also no show, have me do his work, and I paid him while got little in return. Eventually I smartened up and ended that relationship and have felt better.
Hincha Contractor Corp. and Manny Guerra are garbage, scum, a thief, con man, and in the end will get his. Hopefully by the end of the year he will be out of business selling pencils out of a tin can while his wife is turning tricks in a dark alley and getting stiffed on the money.